Debra Spark, associate professor of creative writing, tackles the tense relations between the black Jews, white Jews and native community of Barbados in her second novel, The Ghost of Bridgetown. Main character Charlotte Lewin is sent from Boston to the island on a seemingly straightforward mission by her ailing lawyer grandfather. Her task: determine who should rightfully own a long-forgotten ornamental menorah rumored to be crafted by a local Barbados slave-the local synagogue or a museum devoted to island culture- then return the artifact and enjoy a much-needed vacation.

Charlotte, wrought with liberal guilt and confusion and suffering from her sister's untimely death, becomes emotionally involved with the locals in her pursuit of truth. The involved plot quickly takes on aspects of a ghost story and adds elements of mystery after a fatal parachuting accident and charges of anti-Semitism. And always, Charlotte is trying to find answers. Is the island's alleged ghost (whom she meets drinking beers and playing cards) really supernatural? Was someone plotting murder with a malfunctioning parachute? Was a local ex-con deliberately framed? And will she ever settle the question of the menorah's ownership?

"It's hard to know what to do," Charlotte tells a set of grieving parents. She might as well be speaking to herself. "There was something Charlotte still needed to learn. What? She didn't know, but she'd know it when she saw it. And then she'd do, she hoped, the right thing. The honest and loving thing." While Charlotte longs to be finished with the overwhelming responsibility for the menorah, her search for its rightful place on the island becomes her own search for identity.