Carol Robinson is bright, personable, and just seventeen. She lived with her mother and stepfather in Notting Hill Gate and left school when she was just sixteen. For any girl leaving school there are the problems of finding a job, perhaps somewhere to live, of .coming to terms with beginning and to be a woman and... get a child. Often a girl finds it difficult to persuade an employer that she wants a career and not just a stopgap job until she can get married. The first year away from school can determine a girl's career, often her life. For any girl that first year of freedom can be difficult; perhaps for Carol more difficult than for most, because Carol is black.