Although the naïveté of the narrator is a little hard to swallow, this delectable romp across the high seas -- set against the rather more sobering background of the British slave and opium trade -- will please the palate of anyone with a taste for light romance spiced with a witty inversion of gender stereotypes. Just desserts for any twenty-first century reader who feasted on Treasure Island as a kid, served with an understated moral undertone that is pleasingly presented.