Clara’s Heart was published when I was in my late twenties; the sequel, In Clara’s Hands, was published fourteen years later. Just after the sequel was published I was in London promoting the book and was taking a black cab to an interview. Once the driver began to speak to me, I could tell he was from Jamaica and we began to chat. As someone who normally downplays the fact that I am a writer, I very uncharacteristically told him that I’d written a novel and a sequel whose protagonist was a Jamaican woman. He asked me the name of the books and I told him and he’d actually read Clara’s Heart and was surprised to hear there was a sequel. He asked me the plot of the sequel, and I told him and there was silence – I couldn’t tell if it might be the silence of disapproval. After a few moments, he asked, “Do you think you’ll write another book about her?” [Read more…]