Seven for a Secret offers a good opportunity to approach the topic of the clash of cultures from several perspectives. Casker's Island is a microcosm of colonial activity, with the focus on religious beliefs. Explicit value judgments are rarely expressed, but events and attitudes on the island can be compared to events in England with an eye toward determining the novel's implied values. Readers who have read Holt's early novels might be interested in comparing the male characters of this novel to earlier male protagonists like Connan TreMellyn of Mistress of Mellyn (1960) or Napier Stacy of The Shivering Sands (1969). In the later novels, these characters seem to have become more sensitive and less inclined to violence, even less sexually active. The novels are themselves a record of cultural changes in the last thirty-five years.

1. Frederica describes herself as a "romancer." She agrees that she "mak[es...