Chapter One

None of it would ever have happened if Tania had not become best friends with Sarah Spence. One moment Tania's parents had hardly heard the name, and the next it seemed like they heard nothing else: Sarah Spence knew where to buy the best secondhand clothes, Sarah Spence had a CD by a fantastic new band, Sarah Spence said Friends of the Earth were just old hippies. At first Tania's parents were happy enough, as Sarah Spence - an unexpectedly plain yet self-possessed girl - always treated them politely. But Tania's father, Guy, began to lose patience when Sarah's reported achievements were extended to travel. The Spences, Tania explained triumphantly, "were really adventurous," going to exotic, faraway places all by themselves. Sarah's father was a "totally brilliant linguist" and would learn Latin American Spanish or Bahasa Indonesian "just like that" so they could buy tickets and find hotels as they went. "Sarah says it's the only way to travel," Tania insisted, "as you can really see the country and make friends with the people."

There was no mistaking the criticism of her own parents lurking in Tania's praise, and Guy Winter found this especially annoying as he was rather proud of his family's holidays. Yes, they went with a tour firm, but this was no ordinary tour firm. For some years Guy's family had booked with the High Style Travel Company, to Rajasthan, India, Tanzania, Indonesia, and elsewhere, and not once had they been disappointed. High Style lived up to its name, taking them to atmospheric, offbeat spots alongside the standard tourist sights, and choosing characterful hotels. Most of all, High Style h