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Plot summary

Eager to leave the West Indies, Lucy longs to leave her past behind. She does not feel nostalgic for her childhood and her homeland, where she felt oppressed by toxic British and family influences. This becomes evident when Lucy describes an event that happened in her former school. While attending Queen Victoria Girl's school, she was forced to memorize a poem about daffodils. (This poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, was written by William Wordsworth roughly two centuries ago.) The poem recalls the beauty of daffodils that the speaker has seen years ago. Lucy cannot appreciate this beauty, because daffodils do not grow on her island. After reciting the poem, Lucy is applauded and she explains that at this moment she feels fake. She feels like people see her as English on the outside but on the inside she hates the English. The daffodils for Lucy provide a deep metaphor for the readers to interpret.

Lucy also claims that she is trying to escape her mother. The relationship between Lucy and her mother is a central theme. Lucy believes that she has to leave behind her relationship with her mother in order to become an adult. Many things in the United States remind Lucy of her mother. At one point in her relationship with Mariah, Lucy sees Mariah (her boss) and her mother as the same, because they both try to control Lucy. (At other times, Lucy feels like Mariah's friend.) Lucy also sees a resemblance when she sees Lewis cheating on Mariah. Lucy's own father cheated on her mother. Lucy though begins to love Mariah towards the end of the novel. As the novel draws near the end, one is able to discover how Lucy really feels about her mother.

The novel also encompasses Lucy's actions in her new home. Lucy makes new friends. She meets a guy named Hugh with whom she has sex. In the park with the children one day, she meets a girl named Peggy. Mariah, the mother of the children, does not like Peggy because she smokes and curses but realizes that Lucy needs friends. Lucy also meets a guy named Paul with whom she becomes close. This novel explores Lucy's complicated sexuality, especially illustrated in Lucy's homoerotic relationship with Peggy. The novel ends with Lucy wishing she "could love someone so much that she would die from it." Lucy's dream of escaping her past leaves her feeling alone.

Main Characters

Lucy

the narrator and protagonist

Annie Potter

Lucy's mother

Mariah

The wife that Lucy works for as an au pair

Lewis

The husband that Lucy works for as an au pair

Tanner

the boy with whom Lucy has her first sexual encounter

Miriam

the youngest daughter of Lewis and Mariah, with whom Lucy develops a special bond

Dinah

Mariah's best friend and the woman with whom Lewis has an affair

Peggy

Lucy's best friend that she meets while in the United States

Hugh

Lucy's first boyfriend in America; he is also the brother of Dinah

Paul

Lucy's lover who feels more for her than she does for him