The Pain Tree tells stories that speak to all aspects of Jamaican life. We hear from poor folk making the best of past hardships (Coal); rich folk plotting future selfishness (The Goodness of My Heart); and a young girl, forced to shoulder her mother’s burdens in addition to her own (Lollipop). Bookending these are two powerful stories about the inextricability of home and history: in The Pain Tree, the protagonist realizes the love she abandoned, and the pain she left behind; in Flying, the lead character, searching for his missing piece, comes home for good.