his novel is set in the stone-breaking harshness of South Africa's island prison. Bekimpi, an imprisoned leader of Poko, a branch of the resistance, is stoic under torture but his body finally gives up. This has the power of Solzhenitsyn's writing.

Kristoff village, in the heart of rural Jamaica, is a peaceful home where everyone looks out for each other. Then Monica comes home. Monica rocks the boat, stirs up women's dissatisfactions and men's desires, rekindles old hopes and fears. It is almost inevitable that someone would want to make her pay . . . As hate and jealousy erupt, the village women dig deep into their roots to restore tranquillity and renew their sisterhood. Opal Palmer Adisa deftly draws on Jamaican folklore in this story, universal in its themes of community and women's friendships.