H ow Stella Got Her Groove Back explores the question of how to get back one's stride or "groove" when the solution conflicts with social custom. The central character, also the narrator, is Stella Payne, a 1990s West Coast securities analyst for an investment bank. Stella is forty-two years old, divorced, and the mother of an eleven-year-old son named Quincy. She begins her tale with Quincy's departure to visit his father in Colorado, which frees her to "try to do some make-Stella- feel- good stuff." Life for Stella lacks "fizz." Her marriage failed three years ago, and she has not had "a legitimate date in almost a year." Her beloved best girlfriend has died. "Loss is hard. Starting over is hard." Stella opts suddenly for a vacation in Jamaica, to get away from everything and everybody. She finds instead Winston Shakespeare, a Jamaican man half her...