Forgotten Book - A Hero for Leanda

There's a passing reference to Archbishop Makarios in Andrew Garve's 1958 sailing thriller A Hero for Leanda, and this is, I feel sure, a huge clue as to the inspiration for the storyline. Briefly, Makarios was a high-profile figure in the 1950s, and thereafter. He was a Greek Cypriot who wanted Cyprus to escape from British colonialism, and in 1956 the British had him exiled in the Seychelles, where he remained for a while before being released and although he had to give up on the idea of unifying the island with Greece (because of the hostility of the Turkish Cypriot community), independence and a partitioning of the island was eventually achieved.

Garve's story is about an Irish yachtsman, Mike Conway, whose boat is destroyed in West Africa, leaving him destitute. However, he's approached by someone who introduces him to a rich chap who wants to achieve independence for an island called Spyros (spot the similar name?) The British are keeping Kastella, the leader of the independence movement in exile on an island called Heureuse. Conway (whose Irish roots mean that he is no lover of the Brits) is hired to rescue him, and introduced to an attractive young woman, Leanda, who is willing to help him on his perilous mission.

I did wonder if there might be some kind of plot twist about the wrecking of Conway's boat; spoiler alert, there wasn't. But this is a side issue in any event. The interest of the book likes in Garve's account of the trip on the boat Thalia. I have no expertise in sailing boats whatsoever, but I have no doubt about the authenticity of the material.

The interplay of the lead characters is quite nicely done. I liked, in particular, the way in which Conway expresses his cynicism about political idealists. I think the world needs idealists, but I also think that idealism can create horrors of its own. Garve seems to have spent his early years very much as a political idealist, but by the time he wrote this novel, his views had changed markedly. This is a soundly written thriller, which has stood the test of time pretty well.