by Ann Schlee
First published 1997
Flo steps off the plane into the sweltering heat of Andora, a small British protectorate in Africa. She has finished school and come to spend the summer with her mother Lydia and stepfather in the expatriate community. The colonial settlement operates by unforgiving social rules and expectations. Every detail of daily life follows prescribed patterns that brook no deviation. Lydia has already begun sketching out what Flo should do with her time and her future. But Lydia seems to have forgotten just how suffocating these rigid structures can be. Flo finds herself caught between her mother's ambitions and the claustrophobic world of the British settlers. The summer stretches ahead with its social obligations and predetermined paths. Flo must navigate the tension between filial duty and her own desires in a place where conformity rules everything.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, british-literature, africa, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, social-expectations
Setting: Andora, Africa
Period: 20th-century
Hardcover · Macmillan