A few years ago I was able to visit Mustique on assignment and lived there for two weeks. I have lost count of how many Caribbean countries and islands I have visited over the years, but Mustique is simply different. Yes, we all know that many of the rich and famous have holiday homes there but that is largely all we know about this small island with its air of mystery.
What we don't tend to appreciate is that those rich and famous people are not able to visit Mustique as often as they might otherwise wish and that their homes are let and managed for them during those long absences. A percentage of the income from these lettings is then channelled back into the island. Consequently, Mustique is not only well kept, has pretty decent roads but the local inhabitants have schools and medical facilities not seen elsewhere.
In this book, Roger Vaughan sets out to explain the island by simply telling the reader all about it. It is a large, thick "coffee table" book full of the most beautiful photographs one might ever wish to see about a single place. As a professional photographer, may I say, the images are stunning. Not only are they of the highest quality, the underlying theme for all seven contributing photographers was surely "colour." Their approach has succeeded in portraying a very colourful image about a very bright place.
This is a great book about a fascinating island. When one considers that one of those photographer was the late, and very much missed, Patrick Lichfield, you start to get some sort of idea about what went into producing such a worthwhile product as this book.
And, by the way, Mustique does have its own shipwreck. The Antilles was a cruise liner - well it would have to be wouldn't it, this is Mustique, after all!
NM
