Telling stories of ordinary lives with extraordinary skill, Pamela Mordecai draws delicately detailed portraits of life in Jamaica and other islands, with occasional trips to Canada. Her characters speak with the cadences of the Caribbean, and cope with the universal experiences of birth and death, joy and betrayal.

In “Hartstone High”, a group of girls learn the high price of education; in “Alvin's Ilk”, a self-centred teenaged boy comes to see his elderly neighbour in a whole new way; and in “Shining Waters”, a young priest’s plans for his new parish go horribly awry. Mordecai turns a sharp ear to the nuances of everyday speech, exposing the currents beneath the calm exterior and producing complex tales that will challenge and entertain her readers.