Lala is eight months pregnant when her waters break unexpectedly during the night. Her husband is nowhere to be found, so she flees the house in search of him. Adan has been out doing a burglary that has gone horribly wrong, and now he's killed a white man. But a baby won't wait, and Lala has to get to hospital where she learns three things: one - there is no toilet paper in hospital; two - the nurses shout that it's your fault for getting pregnant, nothing to do with a man; three - they know the baby will be born dead and won't consider calling a doctor. But Lala is determined to prove them wrong.
Mira Whalen has only recently married Peter, the husband who now lies dead, sprawled across their bed. He loved her, his second wife and she loved him. But last night they had a row, and she wishes they hadn't. Just as she wishes that she hadn't confronted her husband's murderer and pulled the stocking off his face. For now he knows who exactly who she is.
HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE is the story of two marriages, and of a beautiful island paradise where, beyond the white sand beaches and the wealthy tourists, lies poverty, menacing violence and a desire among the women to speak out and survive.