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Bermuda Blue
Summer, 1946. When Boston reporter Jerry Canavan is sent down to cover the Newport Bermuda yacht race, the trip feels more like a reunion than an assignment. He stays at the luxurious home of Cam McShane, a classmate from Boston College, and runs into his childhood friend Paul Crump, who is an MP at the U.S. Army base.
For the three young veterans, Bermuda is like a tropical paradise. Cam hangs around the bars at night, socializing with other ex-pats and planning to start a business. Paul patrols downtown Hamilton and dreams of falling in love. With the war finally over, everyone wants to start living again, and the sailboat race is a symbol of the island’s future and the return of tourism.
Jerry tries to stay focused on his work until he meets Gabrielle, a beautiful and mysterious French girl who lives next door. But romance isn’t his only distraction because before the yachts even cross the finish line, the lives of his friends have started to unravel. Cam’s drunken philandering has a much darker side, and Paul’s relationship with a local black girl causes a scandal.
As Jerry’s time grows short, he learns a shocking truth about Gabrielle’s family. Only then does he realize that Bermuda is not all sunshine and Rum Swizzles. People may have flocked there to forget the past, but the war and its consequences are something no one can escape.
For the three young veterans, Bermuda is like a tropical paradise. Cam hangs around the bars at night, socializing with other ex-pats and planning to start a business. Paul patrols downtown Hamilton and dreams of falling in love. With the war finally over, everyone wants to start living again, and the sailboat race is a symbol of the island’s future and the return of tourism.
Jerry tries to stay focused on his work until he meets Gabrielle, a beautiful and mysterious French girl who lives next door. But romance isn’t his only distraction because before the yachts even cross the finish line, the lives of his friends have started to unravel. Cam’s drunken philandering has a much darker side, and Paul’s relationship with a local black girl causes a scandal.
As Jerry’s time grows short, he learns a shocking truth about Gabrielle’s family. Only then does he realize that Bermuda is not all sunshine and Rum Swizzles. People may have flocked there to forget the past, but the war and its consequences are something no one can escape.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 11, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 10, 2022
I grew up in Boston in the decade following WW II; the lives of many of the young men I knew, my cousins, who had returned from war were as the author described. They were more comfortable with veterans gathering in bar rooms in the late afternoon, couldn't seem to fit in to their old routines or relationships at home, and struggled to figure out what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. Jerry Canavan, Paul Crump and Cam McShane, former classmates and friends, the central characters of this novel, rang very true for me.
The 1946 Newport Bermuda yacht race is the reason Jerry Canavan, a new journalist for the "Boston Globe" is sent to Bermuda, an island struggling after WW II. Staying in the pool house on the estate of his former BC classmate, Cam McShane, exposes him again to all the privilege he was not a part of in his old life, reminding him that the war has not eradicated class or privilege. He also meets Paul Crump, an MP on an army base, a friend from his old neighborhood. Race, privilege, war crimes are all themes in this novel, themes we still struggle with.
What I appreciated the most in this novel is the contrast among the characters. Cam is a train wreck, drinking and carousing, looking for a business venture with the wealthy, entitled in Bermuda. Paul's temper puts him at risk time and time again in Bermuda, not a new issue for him, but the war has exacerbated his resentment, his rage. Jerry, the central character, certainly damaged from the war, has the emotional maturity that allows him to stand back, observe without preaching, sad for his friends and knows he can't rescue them from their demons or choices.
The contrast between the physical beauty of Bermuda and the struggles and sadness underneath is striking. Bermuda has suffered in the war, and the Newport Bermuda yacht race is hopefully restoring tourism and a sense of normalcy. The divisions deeply embedded in attitudes about social class, privilege and race reveal deeper wounds. "And despite all the pride and bravado that went along with being victors, they had all lost some part of themselves they would never get back."
The 1946 Newport Bermuda yacht race is the reason Jerry Canavan, a new journalist for the "Boston Globe" is sent to Bermuda, an island struggling after WW II. Staying in the pool house on the estate of his former BC classmate, Cam McShane, exposes him again to all the privilege he was not a part of in his old life, reminding him that the war has not eradicated class or privilege. He also meets Paul Crump, an MP on an army base, a friend from his old neighborhood. Race, privilege, war crimes are all themes in this novel, themes we still struggle with.
What I appreciated the most in this novel is the contrast among the characters. Cam is a train wreck, drinking and carousing, looking for a business venture with the wealthy, entitled in Bermuda. Paul's temper puts him at risk time and time again in Bermuda, not a new issue for him, but the war has exacerbated his resentment, his rage. Jerry, the central character, certainly damaged from the war, has the emotional maturity that allows him to stand back, observe without preaching, sad for his friends and knows he can't rescue them from their demons or choices.
The contrast between the physical beauty of Bermuda and the struggles and sadness underneath is striking. Bermuda has suffered in the war, and the Newport Bermuda yacht race is hopefully restoring tourism and a sense of normalcy. The divisions deeply embedded in attitudes about social class, privilege and race reveal deeper wounds. "And despite all the pride and bravado that went along with being victors, they had all lost some part of themselves they would never get back."
April 2, 2026
I selected this book to help get me in the Bermuda mindset for an upcoming trip to the island. I actually finished it while on vacation very close to where the main character was living. I enjoyed reading about the island in the post war 1940’s. The writing is beautiful. I plan to read more of the author’s books.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews