Robert Ian Mackenzie, narrator.

Still enduring psychotherapy, the precocious Bertie gets a chance to escape when he joins a junior orchestra trip to Paris--where he is accidentally left behind. Never fear for Bertie, though. He quickly finds the silver lining by making friends with students at the Sorbonne. Meanwhile, Domenica Macdonald heads to the Malacca Straits, where she intends to study the economic structure of contemporary pirate culture. And in Edinburgh, Pat entertains a pair of suitors--with mixed results.