Clara Jones

Grew up… an ugly duckling. As a child, Clara was "gangly, bucktoothed, a Jehovah's witness," and – to top it all off – "black as yer boot." She becomes quite a beauty later, but with a fanatical Jamaican mother and a distant father, Clara's childhood was anything but pleasant.  

Living… in London, next door to Samad and Alsana Iqbal. Like Clara's parents, the Iqbals are immigrants, albeit from Bangladesh and not Jamaica. As old war buddies, Clara’s husband Archie and Samad are already friends, and despite an awkward first meeting, it's not long before Clara and Alsana are close friends as well.  

Profession… stay-at-home mother. Clara finds works occasionally, but right now, she's more focused on raising her family and finally going back to college.

Interests… television, her family, and learning "proper" English. Having renounced her mother's religion, Clara is also trying to divest herself of her accent, replacing her Jamaican patois with standard British English. It's an uphill battle, but one Clara can proudly say she's winning.  

Relationship Status… married to a man almost thirty years older than her. When Clara met Archie, she knew he was "no romantic hero." But in her desperation to escape her fanatical mother and ex-boyfriend, she took a risk and married an admittedly boring man. Still, while Archie's average, he's "a good man. And good might not amount to much, good might not light up a life, but it was something."

Challenge… making a new life for herself. Archie might not be particularly exciting, but Clara is determined to make their life together happy – and luckily for her, Archie's not a hard customer to please. Unfortunately, their daughter, Irie, is a different matter altogether.

Personality… calm, peaceful, but more than a touch romantic. Clara might have abandoned the Jehovah's Witnesses, but she hasn't lost the wish "for a savior" – "a man to whisk her away, to choose her above others so that she might Walk in the white with Him." Still, she's a realist. If Archie isn't a knight on a white horse, well, Clara will take what she gets, and she'll do what she can with it.