There's No Place Like...

by Tessa McWatt

Beatrice dreams of being discovered in Hollywood. And when her Aunt Mavis leaves her enough money to kick of Guyanas dust and fly to foreign places, its to California she plans to go. But her beloved Aunt knows her fantasizing teenage niece better than Beatrice knows herself, and California is the one place she may not visit. Instead, Beatrice finds herself on an increasingly incredible trip around the world, discovering both the strange and the familiar wherever she goes, Miami, Mexico City, London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, Nairobi. She discovers true friendship in three young men who one by one join her Irish rebel Sean, who is looking for courage; the Chinese juggler Christopher, who is looking for love; and little Deepak, who seeks wisdom. Beatrice also has repeated encounters with three amazing the serenely beautiful Linda; the motherly Wambui; and the dangerously psychotic Cynthia, whose machinations threaten Beatrices very life.

136 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2004

About the author

Guyanese-born Canadian writer Tessa McWatt is the author of six novels and two books for young people. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards, and the OCM Bocas Prize. She is one of the winners of the Eccles British Library Award 2018, for her memoir: Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging. She is also a librettist, and works on interdisciplinary projects and community-based life writing through CityLife: Stories Against Loneliness. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.