"Brooding, obsessive stories of contemporary black life in Canada and the Caribbean offer an intimate view of women driven by poverty to leave their homes for a hostile new country.... Dionne Brand impresses with her fictional debut; her lyrical gifts are unobtrusively displayed, and her characters are affecting." (Publishers Weekly)

British lesbian author Barbara Burford crafts powerful tales about the lives of Black women. She constructs cruel realities, dream fantasies, bitter escapes, visionary worlds, and the day-to-day love that sustains and creates possibility in this compelling collection. These stories are deeply etched portraits, full of light and shadow.