Rawle C. Eastmond

Woman Rawle C. Eastmond First edition

In colonial times, in England, women were largely disenfranchised and through agitation the suffragette movement evolved. Beyond a certain time women's liberation and the movement towards ?freeing up women? gained momentum. In Barbados in the city there were conditions of squalor where people fought to eke out an existence. Alvina's family belonged to this group. On the other hand, an energetic, ebullient and brilliant young lady, Heather by name, came from a rather more privileged background. However, much as Alvina was to pursue a straight path, Heather proved awkward. Significantly the same Heather was to become involved in the Society for the Advancement of Women. Some drama unfolds, both in respect of Heather's lifestyle and the complications which confronted the indigenous struggle to liberate women. Heather falls from grace, is traumatized, and has to turn to her nemesis Alvina for help and succour. Ironic indeed, considering all that had transpired in the first encounter between these two, one a conservative, and the other in her youth a privileged person, who was a rebel at heart with tendencies to be non-conformist. Indeed Heather often goes overboard in the choices she makes. The story presents elements of unbridled sexuality, the status of the homosexual movement, and the part played by peer group pressure. In the end, where unhappiness had subsisted, victory over the personal crisis that engulfed one who almost became an anti-heroine was achieved in a rather pointed and curious way.