The coming-of-age story of one of Jamaica Kincaid's most admired creations Lucy a teenage girl
from the West Indies comes to North America to work as an au pair for Lewis and Mariah and
their four children. Lewis and Mariah are a thrice-blessed couple - handsome rich and
seemingly happy. Yet alomst at once Lucy begins to notice cracks in their beautiful facade.
With mingled anger and compassion Lucy scrutinizes the assumptions and verities of her
employers' world and compares them with the vivid realities of her native place. Lucy has no
illusions about her own past but neither is she prepared to be deceived about where she
presently is. At the same time that Lucy is coming to terms with Lewis's and Mariah's lives
she is also unravelling the mysteries of her own sexuality. Gradually a new person unfolds:
passionate forthright and disarmingly honest. In Lucy Jamaica Kincaid has created a
startling new character possessed with adamantine clearsightedness and ferocious integrity - a
captivating heroine for our time.
