Firefly

On a secluded hillside in Jamaica lies Firefly, No l Coward s peaceful retreat. Here, between sundowners and sunsets, brandies and cigarettes, the seventy-one-year-old Coward whiles away his days a comforting, frustrating pattern of unwanted breakfasts, reluctant walks, graceless dips in the pool in the company of his manservant Patrice. Both of them dream of a London that is long-gone or imagined: No l s peopled with glamorous friends Redgrave, Olivier, O Toole and Patrice s a picture-postcard vision of elegance and opportunity. Set over a series of summer days in the early 1970s, Firefly flits through Coward s dreams and memories, his successes and regrets, against a sultry, seductive backdrop of blue skies and glistening water.'A delightful read' Ian McKellen