Dildo Cay

FOR eleven generations the Ainsworths have lived on a tiny island in the Bahamas, the only whites among two hundred blacks. They manufacture salt from sea water, and they depend on their sailing vessels for communications and supplies. An empty, incompetent superintendent is employed and arrives accompanied by his attractive ’modern’ daughter — and the ordered life on Dildo Cay falls to pieces.

The author is less sure in dealing with the emotional complications which ensue than he is in describing the life and scenes in that aloof, subtropical setting, the arid sand of Dildo Cay, where no trees grow, the trade winds and high banks of clouds. He describes the uncomfortable voyages superbly. These things he has lived and felt. And, if the novel limps at times, it is still an honestly told story with whole chapters of excellent, vivid description.