Book excerpt: Myra, a proud, sensuous, hardworking woman who finds blessed release in her own restless desires; Odile, Myra's defiant teenage daughter who risks her one chance to leave the family's poverty; Sebastian, Myra's senile father who has begun to follow his fantasies into a world of trouble; Slim, Myra's worthless street vendor boyfriend who spends as much time seducing young women as he does selling trinkets; Jacob, the once-famous West Indian stickfighter who thought the hero in him was long dead until he meets Myra. And Rory, whose need for Odile's love may prove very dangerous.