ON FRIDAY NIGHT is a novel which unfolds in two narrative strands. The more extensive and dominant strand develops the narrative of a young girl who receives a bouquet of flowers on her doorstep every Friday night, from a mysterious admirer, who is eventually revealed to be Marvin Mann, her white neighbour and the father of her childhood playmates, Margarita and Jaime. A complex story of passion, disillusionment, racism and betrayal unfolds, as Susana seeks to understand herself, her feelings and to establish subjectivity and agency in a complex society. Susana develops an awareness of the social realities involving race and class in her society at an early age, as she is conscienticized by a strong, black-conscious grandmother, who helps her to develop an understanding of herself as a black woman in a racist society. But when Susana is devastated by the deception of her first boyfriend Ruperto and her best friend Luz Argentina, she ignores the reservations expressed by her grandmother and yields to the offers of comfort from Marvin Mann, eventually marrying him. At first Susana struggles with fears and uncertainties about being attracted to a much older man and one of a different racial and social background which is perceived by society to be superior to her own background and race. However, their marriage becomes an act of defiance on the part of both characters, against a society which classifies people according to race and class and dictates all their activities, including romantic interests. The differences between Susana and Marvin are pronounced, and are dramatized by various details of their lives- their age, preferences in music, levels of maturity, overall approach to life and, of course, their racial and social background and the associations society makes with these... The title of the work ON FRIDAY NIGHT draws attention to the ambiguities and contradictions of Susana's relationship with Marvin. She comes to associate Friday nights with the beautiful bouquets/illusions from the admirer, but Friday night is also the night her grandmother leaves mysteriously, after perceiving in her own clairvoyant way, that the bouquet which on the surface seems to hold the prospect of happiness for Susana will also bring great unhappiness for her. --- 'Introduction' by Paulette A. Ramsay (co-translator)