Gwendolen (novel)

Gwendolen, pet name June–June, is a young black Jamaican girl growing up with her maternal grandmother Naomi.

She tells this secret to her grandmother, who confronts the man and reveals it to the rest of their neighbours, thus bringing shame to Gwendolen.

In England, Gwendolen attends school and helps take care of her two younger brothers, Ronald and Marcus, and their youngest sister, Cheryl.

When her mother goes back to Jamaica for an extended visit to attend to her dead grandmother Naomi, Gwendolen is again sexually abused – this time by her father Winston.

Gwendolen is institutionalized in a mental hospital after going hysterical, but she tells no one the parentage of her unborn child for fear that her father may be imprisoned.