Susan Proudleigh

A young woman from a modest Kingston household contends with neighborhood envy, class friction, and economic precarity while aspiring to a better life abroad. A local quarrel becomes a courtroom episode that exposes legal ineffectiveness and deepens her humiliation; domestic pride in recently acquired comforts sits alongside family hardship and romantic disappointment. The narrative follows community pressures and persistent talk of opportunity in Central America, and describes escalating incidents—public meetings, a subscription party, a fire, and an anonymous letter—that force difficult choices and ultimately determine the family’s fortunes.