New York: Villard, 1993. First edition - Trinidad-born author's first novel, second book, one which "turns the coming-of-age of a young Caribbean woman into a disturbing fable as it movingly evokes the loss of innocence in a lush tropical demi-paradise. . Uxann, innocent and dutiful, lives with her father, Seyeh, on a small farm outside the local village. Her mother went off with another man, and now Seyeh carefully protects Uxann from worldly influence. Uxann, a diligent and accomplished student at the local convent, delights in studying, taking care of the farm animals, and keeping house for her beloved father. But it is inevitable--her classmates are already falling in love, getting pregnant, and having to drop-out--that Uxann's innocence cannot endure.. . A stunning tragedy of carefully calibrated horror and pulsating sensuality that is more a tropical murder of the innocents that a conventional rites-of-passage novel (Kirkus) 136 pp.