Summary

In a brief prologue, a young Queenie Buxton visits the British Empire Exhibition. She encounters a Black man whose hand, to her surprise, is “like anyone else’s” (5). In 1948, Hortense Roberts arrives in London from Jamaica. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, has rented a room from Queenie. Queenie’s husband Bernard has not returned from World War II. Kenneth, another Jamaican man living in the home, helps Gilbert with Hortense’s trunk. Hortense, distraught, tells Gilbert, “This place is disgusting” (26).

In a flashback, Hortense describes her childhood in Jamaica (a British colony, at that time). Although Hortense’s father is a “legend” (31), Hortense is raised by her father’s cousins, Philip and Martha Roberts. Hortense grows up in their deeply religious household alongside their son, Michael. As a teenager, Hortense works in a school run by a white couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ryder. When Michael...