The Girl Who Flew Away

Dean (I Am Young) immerses readers in sun-drenched, claustrophobic beauty in this compassionate saga about a young woman’s awakening in the 1970s. Greer, a young mixed-race secretary, flies from Pittsburgh to Key West so her married lover (and boss) can get her away from prying eyes before her pregnancy shows. She’s taken in by a born-again Christian couple, Kate and Donald, whose charity comes with judgments, demands, and misguided efforts to line up a shotgun wedding. Meanwhile, Greer clings to the hope of being rescued by one man or another: her distant lover; a coworker she carries a torch for; sympathetic groundskeeper Pablo. But a series of vivid pregnancy dreams about a little girl living in the 1920s, which Greer feels compelled to commit to paper, sets her instead on the path toward self-expression and self-sufficiency. Dean captures the period setting in bold shapes, chunky lines, and a 1970s palette of saturated greens, golds, and mustard yellows. The script unfolds luxuriantly, taking time to soak in the details of island life as Greer reshapes herself. Illuminating universal themes in a tale of well-observed specificities, this dazzles. (Mar.)