Phyllisia Cathy--She is fourteen. Her problems seem overwhelming: New York, after life on her sunlit West Indies island, is cold, cruel and filthy. She is insulted daily and is beaten up by classmates. What Phyllisia needs, God not being interested, is a friend.

Edith Jackson--She is fifteen. Her clothes are unpressed, her stockings bagging with big holes. Her knowledge of school is zero. She has no parents, she swears and she steals. But she is kind and offers her friendship and protection to Phyllisia. "And so begins the struggle...

Rosa Guy's tropical retelling of -The Little Mermaid- is the gorgeous, tragic love story of Desiree, a beautiful peasant girl who devotes herself to the handsome, aristocratic young man whose life she has saved. When his upper-class fami-ly feels that Desiree's skin is too dark and her family too poor for a boy destined for power and wealth, Desiree proves that she is willing to give everything for love. This lovely reprint will break your heart.

Born in Trinidad, Rosa Guy has written 15 novels and has received the Coretta Scott King Award, and The New York Times Outstanding...