Summary

Chapter 1 is titled “It Was the Brightness of the Light.” The first-person narrator begins her story with the title phrase, which initiates its description of an encounter with a playful puppy, who seems to be unaware of “the dingy sadness of a poverty that was, I’m sure, as much a lack of ideas as anything else” (1). The narrator then goes on to describe how she felt a strong connection with the puppy and a longing to share in its joy, particularly in the aftermath of a heavy rain that swept “men, dogs, horses and calves” as well as land and crops down to the sea (2). The narrator then identifies herself by some of the names she has gone by, “China [pronounced CHEE-na], Josephine Star Arion and Tararira” (2). She describes being orphaned at birth, and being raised by a Black...