In Disappearing Acts, McMillan treats the theme of gender relations through the characters of Zora Banks, a schoolteacher and aspiring singer living in Brooklyn, and Franklin Swift, an occasionally employed building contractor.

The two fall in love and conduct a mercurial romance. As in Waiting to Exhale, the characters include women who are friends, but the alternating points of view are those of Zora and Franklin.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996) is the story of an affluent 42-year-old single mom in San Francisco whose antidote to stagnation is a luxury resort vacation in Jamaica. Stella sets her eye on, and attracts a 20-year-old Adonis.

His beauty and honesty challenge her perceptions of what is acceptable in pursuing men, and force her to reconsider her self-image and her life. Once she returns from her vacation, she realizes that her life has been satisfying only because she...