This subtle romantic thriller really got under my skin. I learned a lot about the Greek island of Rhodes – that in the late 1930s it was no idyllic place to live, and that the Italian Fascist “governorship” was stripping the island of its antiquities for “safekeeping”. But it was also a good insight into naive British thinking of the period, and shows how much society has changed.

The British Burnetts are academics, there for the abundant archaeology, who have made their home in the old Rhodes Town area, complete with courtyard garden, lemon trees, and a very important pot of basil. Their son David is a teacher on the island but Eve, the younger at 19, has never been considered by the family as academically bright, so cast into the role of housekeeper by her parents. Imagine that happening today! When her brother goes missing, and the Fascist police arrive asking questions, not about him but about their neighbours, it is Eve who begins to realise that her brother could be mixing with the Partisans.

But who is this rangy Julio Falcone? A carabinieri from Palma seconded to Rhodes to lend an air of respectability to the local Fascist regime, he not only treats Eve like a person, but as if her opinions matter. But he’s a Fascist, too, so is he playing court only to elicit information about her missing brother and the dubious affiliations of their neighbours? Eve is torn between a growing attraction to him, fears of disloyalty and an emergent sense of her own integrity. It was a joy to listen to her come alive. Julio, too, is no 2D character, but saying more would give the story away.

Lindsay Townsend’s writing evokes not just pictures, but smells and noise – and the continuing quiet threat of living beneath an imposed regime, all brought alive by the reader. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will seek out her other books. Oh that *they* were on audio for the daily commute!