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John discards his emotionally unrewarding financial career in New York City, seeking to redeem his past while exploring new options on the legendary Spanish island of Ibiza. The bohemian atmosphere not only attracts a steady flow of summer tourists but has become home to many souls like John who have found more disillusionment than satisfaction in their materially successful lifestyles in North America and Europe. Rumor has it that John's former friend Gunther lives somewhere on the island. Before John can immerse his heart in a new lifestyle and a new love, he is compelled to search for Gunther and, hopefully, assuage his guilty conscience for abandoning his friend fifteen years before as they embarked on a literary project.
Kurian's quiet but gem-like prose is a remarkable feature of this romantic adventure novel, no less enriched by his vivid, insightful characterizations. The tale could descend into a rote exploration of the many eccentric people and lifestyle choices on Ibiza, but the author's storytelling skills bring deeper dimensions into the lives of the artisans, musicians, spiritual seekers, and lost souls trying to find—or lose—themselves amongst the cults, communes, markets, and endless celebrations on the beautiful sun-drenched island. John's love life in New York was marked by a failure to connect on an emotional level, but his social life on Ibiza takes off at a gallop as he quickly meets Diana, a remarkable woman who speaks directly to his heart. However, his heart is still raw from the misdeed of abandoning his friend Gunther. Kurian's unique male perspective of love lost and love found and his protagonist's urgent search for redemption give a lustrous patina to this thoughtful literary tale, as does the elevation of Ibiza to a character-like status that rises beyond mere setting.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review