SOLVED. Adult fiction. Old book (published in '30s or '40s?) about an elegant party on a fictional tropical island the evening before the island disappears (by natural disaster - volcano or eathquake).

[Miss]

Hello ! Thank you for any help you may be able to give with this search !

I read the book in 2000 but it was a pretty old copy, maybe published in 1930s, 1940s or 1950s.

It was a short book, slim copy. Almost the whole book is set during one evening at an elegant party or gathering on a fictional tropical island, and then the next day the island is destroyed by natural disaster - a volcano or earthquake I think. Almost all the people seemed wealthy, maybe colonial people, and it wasn't scary at all, more of a Great Gatsby atmosphere, kind of nostalgic.

The cover was a drawing - perhaps of tropical foliage with a big old house or building amongst it. It may have been an old Penguin book, but I cannot be certain.

Thank you very much in advance for any tips!
Claudia

[Miss]

I just solved my own question :) I found it finally -
The Violins of Saint-Jacques, by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

[Bargle]

Link The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor.