Lennox is Shirley’s husband and Rachel and Karen’s dad. He is a doting and supportive husband who treats his wife as his equal. When they have kids, he’s an involved and caring father. Like Shirley, Lennox is the second-generation child of Afro-Caribbean immigrants. In his youth, he was determined to achieve upward mobility but understood that society viewed him, a Black man, as a threat. Growing up in the stop-and-frisk era traumatizes him, and he becomes a lawyer so that he can reform the system from within. One day, Lennox shows up on his mother-in-law, Winsome’s, doorstep and initiates a passionate affair with her. Just as suddenly as it begins, Lennox ends the affair and never speaks of it again. Shirley never uncovers this secret.
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Lennox King Character Timeline in Girl, Woman, Other
The timeline below shows where the character Lennox King appears in Girl, Woman, Other. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Shirley
...upon women in the wake of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Instead, she and her fiancé Lennox have agreed on an equitable distribution of domestic duties. She enters her classroom and her...
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Shirley goes home to Lennox and regales him with talk about her hatred of Penelope, just one of many nights...
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Shirley admires Lennox as he cooks, a man who treats her equally and is risk averse just like...
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...he’s stopped and frisked by the police, which leaves his body feeling violated and emasculated. Lennox is a good boy who avoids the bad boys, who is made fun of for...
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When Shirley and Lennox graduate they move to London and move in together. They get married and Shirley Coleman...
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...accepting. Amma brings new, unconventional, mostly gay people into Shirley’s life that she finds fascinating. Lennox and Amma really like each other, even ganging up on Shirley, teasing her for being...
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...leaving to work in a private school full of polite, studious middle-class girls. She and Lennox themselves have bought into the “great middle-class scam” by sending their daughters to a private...
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...of rejection stops her from applying to another school. Over the years both Shirley and Lennox have changed. He never became a criminal barrister, sticking instead with a better paid position,...
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Chapter 3: Winsome
...is cooking her family’s favorite meal as the sea breeze drifts into the kitchen. Shirley, Lennox, her granddaughter Rachel, and Rachel’s daughter are visiting and the rest of the family will...
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Winsome watches Lennox and her husband, Clovis, head out to fix up a fishing boat. Winsome admires Lennox...
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Mid-story, Winsome is distracted by Lennox and Clovis headed back from fixing up the boat. She thinks Shirley likely married Lennox...
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...an excitement her domesticated husband couldn’t give her. So, when Shirley first introduces them to Lennox, Winsome is flooded with sexual desire for his youthful vigor and beauty. After that first...
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She notices that Lennox’s kisses linger on her cheeks too long. She doesn’t want to betray Clovis or Shirley...
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Lennox ends the affair suddenly and without explanation, and Winsome never finds the courage to ask...
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Chapter 5: The After-party
Embarrassed by her uncontrollable emotions, Shirley rushes off feeling lighter and excited to tell Lennox about this encounter. She’s eager to leave the party, which she finds grating. She’d rather...
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...speak to at the party, but instead lets her walk off with Dominique. She and Lennox finally leave the party, passing Yazz on the way out who, earlier, hadn’t introduced Shirley...
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