Known as the perfume islands for its many ylang ylang trees, whose flowers are a valued essence in perfumery, these islands off the Swahili coast of Africa are visited by few tourists. The year Sean McGrath lived there, it was run by the French soldier of fortune Bob Denard and his band of European mercenaries, following a coup he had staged to depose a president he had previously installed in an earlier coup. Denard was believed to have inspired the novel The Dogs of War and used the Comoros as a logistics base for mercenary activity in the proxy wars of the Cold War in Angola and Mozambique. McGrath settles into the sleepy islands, windsurfing, scuba diving and going to open-air discos by the sea. With an eye for the absurd, he delves into the recent history of the Comoros, depicts the languorous pace of life on the islands, observing the political intrigue of the country, interacting with the mercenaries, spending time in the Arab quarter and absorbing the Swahili culture. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in traveling to these remote islands.