Product Review

Lee and her husband, Tom ditch their sailboat on the West Coast and fly to the U.S. Virgin Islands with a down payment for a mom and pop business on St. John. The plan: when they aren’t sewing canvas bags at their little shop, The Canvas Factory, they’ll be beach potatoes. But there are risks to living in paradise one cannot anticipate, especially on an island where residents bask in the mantra: You can do anything you want, as long as the rest of us know about it. For soon after unpacking their flip-flops, the husband—a former Republican state legislator with a silver crew-cut and solid traditional values—realizes he is really a she. Convinced the world needs more humor, Lee rations the angst in favor of the picturesque and absurd. Adding heat to the story is a cast of colorful cats, customers, and Caribbean personalities. Toss in a few sex toys, some steel pan music, a pinch of voodoo—and stir.