Penal colony ...

... The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress — By Beryl Bainbridge — Book Review - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Harold is irritated by Rose and her smoking habit; she doesn’t wash enough; she seems remarkably incurious about the landscapes she’s passing through. Rose finds Harold boring and fastidious, intently spraying the camper van with insect repellent. No one has a sharper eye than Bainbridge for human foibles and pretensions; no one better understands importunate human needs and the urgent desire to assuage them, whether it’s a stolen cigarette in a car park or soulless sex in a hotel bedroom.