Preview of How Stella Got Her Groove Back Summary:

Stella is on a quest for self-realization.

She dearly loves her son, but she is not especially lonely because he left to visit his father. Quincy's absence gives Stella the chance to take time off from motherhood and reflect on how to "shoot some vitality into my heart, my mind, this house of soul I live in." Her divorce has taken the "bite" out of her. She feels locked into a job that is dull and boring, and so high paying that she is constantly being appraised and worn out from trying to prove herself. Stella enjoys "making things that serve a purpose," but art is "iffy" when one has a mortgage.

The decision to leave for Jamaica is the first freeing step for Stella, since it overthrows the proprieties for women. "You mean to tell me you're gonna go all the way to a foreign country by...