Joseph OLSHAN
Joseph OLSHAN
Clara is a powerful Jamaican woman brought from Jamaica to New York to run the household after David's mother has a breakdown following the death of her baby daughter. Rough and loving, Clara introduces David to a world richly textured with legend and magic. He learns her patois and becomes an honorary member of her social circle, mainly consisting of the ladies of Blanche's Beauty Parlor in Brooklyn. As his mother grows odder and his father more distant, so David clings the more to Clara -- with the inevitable unhappy consequences.
Her closet door was ajar and inside it David could see the red vinyl suitcase where he knew she kept all her personal letters. She normally kept it locked; he had seen her put the key in one of her blue envelopes, hidden somewhere in the night table. He climbed off the bed and tiptoed over to the closet door, opening it further. The dark cavity was instantly flooded with light cast by Clara's bedside lamp. The clasp on the suitcase was open! WINNER OF THE LONDON TIMES/JONATHAN CAPE YOUNG WRITERS’ COMPETITION
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