I spotted Lost in Ibiza in the Hay Festival bookshop not long after booking a winter sun trip to the Spanish island. With that trip now fast approaching, I remembered Rebecca Frayn’s book and found it a fascinating insight into Ibiza’s history and environment, wrapped up in a very readable father-and-daughter tale.
Lost in Ibiza’s lead characters are property developer William Gifford who lives a luxurious lifestyle on the sun-soaked island and Alice, the 21-year-old daughter who has only recently learned of his existence. Alice grew up believing her father was the man who raised her. She’s an ardent environmental activist so discovering she has a biological father whose values seem far from her own is quite a shock.
Despite her reservations, Alice decides to visit William at his home in the north of Ibiza. She arrives the day before his excessively over-the-top 50th birthday celebration which is being painstakingly planned by his wife Cressida. Lost in Ibiza’s narrative switches between the perspectives of four people – Alice, William, Cressida and Mary, the live-in Filipino housekeeper who takes care of William and Cressida’s home and their young children Lola and Joe.
Mary’s husband Rene is the estate’s caretaker and it’s quite an estate. There are well-watered lawns, a large swimming pool and a lap pool, hidden to avoid the eyes of the law on an island where water is scarce. From that first look at the property, father and daughter are at odds. So after a grilling from some of William’s wealthy party guests and finding Cressida rummaging through her belongings, Alice decides coming to meet William was a mistake.
Her attempt to get to the port ends with a night squatting in another luxurious house that has been left in disarray by its last party-loving occupants. William’s decision to go and find her the next morning leads them on a road trip where they are Lost in Ibiza but discover a lot about each other along the way.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Cressida is managing the increasingly outlandish party preparations and Mary is trying to pluck up the courage to ask her employer a favour. Despite being a carer for William and Cressida’s children, Mary’s daughter is back in the Philippines, being cared for by others and she desperately wants to see her.
The challenging circumstances of economic migrants and the impact of 1 percenters on the island’s natural resources make Lost in Ibiza much more than just a humorous light read. But by weaving those topics into a page-turning tale of family dynamics, Frayn has made her messages feel informative and interesting rather than preachy. She’s also layered in some of the island’s flora and fauna and its varied inhabitants. The hippies were in Ibiza long before the clubbers and they’re still there.
Overall, I found the book a really interesting and engaging read and it’s definitely inspired me to visit the north of the island during my upcoming weekend away. But hopefully, I won’t get Lost in Ibiza!
I bought my copy of the book second-hand from Awesome Books but you might get it in your local library. Or you could try Oxfam, the largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe. You can also read more book reviews in the Books section of my blog.