Discerner of hearts

The nine vividly rendered stories of place and character in this new book are set in Jamaica, both rural and urban, some present-day, others looking back several decades. Senior's gift for fine characterization, for recreating the music of everyday speech, pervades these tales, which explore notions of home and exile as well as the intricate realm of the human spirit - its fallible nature, its indomitable strength against the sometimes downward pull of fate. Her finely etched characters include: Cissy and the Blackartman; Uncle, who returns from England with the heart taken out of him and an angry case against the Queen; Miss Evadney, of "the pressure and the arthritis," who fights to protect her precious chocho vine until matters are taken from her hands by her new Rasta neighbours; Eric, a mild-mannered businessman, and Sybil Pearson, in whom Eric glimpses hope - until their affair creates scandal, and changes events irrevocably; Sadie, a young girl caught between the refined world of Mother Dear and the more nourishing, troublesome one of their servant Desrine and her daughter Manuela.