Stella is an unusual figure because she is a remarkably successful woman, and an African-American woman. She maintains high interracial appeal as she circulates among a largely African-American cast of characters. Stella is attractive, witty, highspirited, and easy for a reader to enjoy.

After a childhood that was less than ideal, Stella found a way to acquire advanced academic degrees. She is intelligent and talented, which she demonstrates by her work in investments and then in furniture design. Her fine sense of individuality and beauty are expressed in gardening and, at last, in her art. She is interested "in the texture of things, in creating harmony where there was none before, in making the impossible possible, reversing the irrevocable." Stella is upbeat, with very contemporary tastes. She prepares for her vacation by getting a nineties hairdo comprised of "at least a hundred little braids."

As a woman, Stella...