With resort season near, your thoughts naturally turn to tropical destinations, fruity drinks, and bikinis.

Your body? Not quite on board yet. (Only five pounds to go!)

So for now, pick up a copy of Louise Dean’s Becoming Strangers. Set at a glamorous island getaway, the novel is a reminder that the best thing to carry on is the right travel companion.

Two couples in crisis meet on holiday. Small-town octogenarian Brits Dorothy and George are on their first-ever vacation together; Belgian middle-agers Jan and Annemiecke are on their final trip. Things warm up in the resort’s hot-house atmosphere: Annemiecke gets indiscreet, George and Jan become drinking buddies, Dorothy guards a secret, and the other guests find dramas of their own.

No lightweight beach read, Dean’s closely observed, unsentimental writing will linger in your mind like sand at the bottom of your suitcase.

Long after your tan lines fade.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.