"'Let me tell you about a little girl like you that didn't listen to her mother.' And Wilma tells Lala the story of the One-Armed Sister."

In Baxter's Beach, Barbados, Lala's grandmother, Wilma, tells her a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers. For Wilma, it's the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result.

When Lala grows up, she sees the story offers hope - of life and love after losing a baby in the most terrible of circumstances and marrying the wrong man.

And Mira Whalen? Her story is about keeping alive, trying to make sense of the fact that her husband has been murdered, and that she didn't get the chance to tell him that she loved him after all.

HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE is a powerful, visceral novel of lives across race and class, and of the sacrifices some women make to survive.