Kelvin Christopher James is a man who knows how to write about life as a young West Indian girl, a lonely overweight twelve year old. And that is the secret to this book - good cross-gender writing. Things not-quite-believable happen in James' book, but practicality doesn't matter in a novel that carries with it an edge of magic. For us to believe in James' work, we have to fill in the blank spaces in the collage. SECRETS is more a collection of descriptions, feelings, and impressions than it is a story. There is a story, of course, but far removed from the model of most books. SECRETS is unusual for a West Indian novel as it is sparsely populated; Uxann, Keah, and the father are the only players. In choosing to have few characters, James succeeds in portraying isolation, despair, and everyone's sense of being "other." There is nothing traditional and nothing expected in SECRETS which is why it works. From the patchwork-quilt approach of the writing style to the handling of themes such as coming-of-age and sex, James has gone to another level and taken us there as with him. ( )