Set in early 20th-century Florida, the novel follows Janie Crawford as she moves from adolescence into adulthood and seeks a life where she can speak and act for herself. The core pressure is Janie's pursuit of emotional autonomy and self-definition within constrained social and gender roles.

A first-person memoir of growing up and working in colonial East Africa, told through episodic accounts of life on farms, training racehorses, and learning to fly.