Set, like all Everard Palmer’s previous stories, in Jamaica, this book combines an irresistible gaiety of style with a sensitive understanding of the relationship between a father and son.

Sun-Sun Johnson enjoys life. He has enjoyed starting at the bottom and working hard to become the biggest landowner in the village. He enjoys being married to an elegant, out-of-the-ordinary woman, and he loves his three children. But he doesn’t enjoy keeping up a position; he can’t be bothered to be dignified or to keep a look out for scroungers – he aims to be generous, whatever the cost.

The cost proves to be the loss of his fortune, his home, and his wife to his greatest rival. Only his eldest son, Rami, remains faithful, and together they start again, from the bottom.

The revised editions include new supplementary material including chapter summaries, an exploration of the book’s major themes and post-reading comprehension activities.