Isle O' Dreams

Manila in the early 1900s, and the Pacific shimmers with rumor. Robert Trask arrives in the city chasing two dreams: the wealthy Lockes, and particularly Marjorie, whose face haunts him from across the ocean; and a legend whispered in dockside taverns, a golden island where fortune sleeps. He finds the Lockes disappointingly absent, but stumbles instead onto Captain Dinshaw, a weather-beaten sailor whose eyes hold the distant glint of something real. The old man speaks of an island where gold lies scattered like dead leaves, and Trask feels the familiar itch of possibility. What follows is a story built from equal parts longing and adventure, as Trask must navigate the treacherous waters of colonial Manila, the Lockes' complicated social world, and his own burning desire to prove that dreamers sometimes land on their shores. Moore writes with the romantic sweep of an era when maps still held blank spaces and a young man with enough nerve could redraw his fate.