Nan Twynham was one of the many thousands of British people who bought properties in the Spain in the late '90s, BBB - before the building bubble. She and her husband Peter, who died in September 2011, reluctantly sold up in 2007, as the bubble began to burst. They were powerless to stop the relentless and inappropriate construction boom in 'their' traditional village and lucky to sell to a Spanish couple returning to their roots.

The gestation of the 'slim volume' presented here evolved from a number of articles offered to the Costa Blanca News, the English-speaking weekly newspaper widely sold in the area where the book is set. The paper did not accept them for several reasons, financial problems one of these. But, the author continued to produce her 'pieces' and added to them long after the house had been sold. It seemed a pity for their fate to be a dusty drawer, unread and unloved!

Nan Twynham reflects now, in her home in Hampshire, on those days and weeks spent in Spain, not only in situ in the village but also in the journeys to and from the ports. She says: "Despite the disappointments and disillusion, Spain took a piece of my heart and holds it still."