After her mother sails from the Caribbean to England to find work, Wheeler is left with her two older sisters, three cousins and two aunts.




She couldn't feel more alone. She longs for her mother to send for her as promised. Everyone tells her to just wait. But for how long?




In the meantime, she has to learn to get along as best she can, exploring the island with Donelle, making kites with Bounce, following the carnival through town.




But most of all she must avoid the threat of her cousin Floyd.




Set during the mid-1960s on a Caribbean Island, issues of family, migration and abandonment hang over Wheeler and her unknowable future.




A story of sisterhood, family secrets, and the sacrifices of love. No novel comes as close to this heart-breaking evocation of what it's like to be a child left behind.