Prodded by her grown daughter to "get a life," Carolyn takes a break from her widowed San Francisco existence to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday in the Canary Islands. As her mother's gentle affection and the islands' soothing allure soften Carolyn's heart, a Flamenco dance lesson, a defining camel ride, and the steady gaze of an old flame reawaken feelings she thought were forever gone. "Gunn is adept at . imbuing [light fiction] with the hallmarks of literary fiction. The characters are multidimensional and ring true ." -Publishers Weekly