The Autobiography of the Queen

Queen Elizabeth has gone AWOL from Balmoral, and no one can find her. Where has she gone and why? This winsome, if unlikely, account of the Queen's disappearance recounts the monarch's solo journey to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia to take possession of her recently purchased home in the idyllic-sounding Joli Estate. Here, after more than half a century on the throne, she will recall the years of her reign in peace and tranquility, in the guise of her new identity as Gloria Smith. But the house is no more than a muddy hole in the ground, and the Queen must punt. She is not used to asking for anything, carrying cash, fending for herself, introducing herself, or being ignored. The story of the sovereign's sojourn in her former colony is a funny and touching account of the sometimes contentious and occasionally baffling friendship between Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and a scruffy young St. Lucian, Austin Ford. How this radical change of life and circumstance affects the Queen-and how she is transformed as a result-make for a hilarious and moving tale, in which her need for her subjects proves to be as strong as their desire that she remain on her throne.