Unexpected romance blossoms on a trip to the Aeolian Islands in this fresh and alluring debut novel. Jake Jones - young, gay and party-loving - lets the offer of a free trip accompanying an unknown older woman to Italy lure him away from the London scene. His first meeting with the formidable Eva gets them off on the wrong footing - but as the holiday continues a spiky friendship starts to grow between the couple. They visit the exotic islands of Vulcano - whose curative mud pools Eva is strangely reluctant to bathe in - and Stromboli, with its spectacular active volcano. And it's here, in the cool and restful house of Maria, that the two of them begin to understand what has happened in the past and what is happening now.