Synopses & Reviews
“My Cleaner is a moving, funny, engrossing book.”—The Observer
“Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance.”—The Times
“Beautifully observed, intelligent and moving.”—The Scotsman
Ugandan Mary Tendo worked for many years in the white middle-class Henman household in London, cleaning for Vanessa and looking after her only child, Justin. More than ten years after Mary has left, Justin—now twenty-two, handsome, and gifted—is too depressed to get out of bed. To his mother’s surprise, he asks for Mary.
When Mary responds to Vanessa’s cry for help and returns from Uganda to look after Justin, the balance of power in the house shifts dramatically. Both women’s lives change irrevocably as tensions build toward a startling climax on a snowbound motorway.
Synopsis
"Maggie Gee is a superb and pitiless analyzer of middle-class angst. Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance."-The Times
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"My Cleaneris a moving, funny, engrossing book."-The Observer
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Maggie Gee confronts racism and class conflict with humor and tenderness in this moving tale of a former Ugandan cleaner returning to London ten years after she left to look after the son of her former employer.
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Maggie Geewas chosen as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists in 1983. Since then she has published ten novels to great acclaim, including The White Family(shortlisted for the Orange Prize and for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), The Flood(longlisted for the Orange Prize), and My Cleaner. She is the first female chair of The Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.
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Synopsis
-My Cleaner is a moving, funny, engrossing book.---The Observer
-Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance.---The Times
-Beautifully observed, intelligent and moving.---The Scotsman
Ugandan Mary Tendo worked for many years in the white middle-class Henman household in London, cleaning for Vanessa and looking after her only child, Justin. More than ten years after Mary has left, Justin--now twenty-two, handsome, and gifted--is too depressed to get out of bed. To his mother's surprise, he asks for Mary.
When Mary responds to Vanessa's cry for help and returns from Uganda to look after Justin, the balance of power in the house shifts dramatically. Both women's lives change irrevocably as tensions build toward a startling climax on a snowbound motorway.
Synopsis
Funny and poignant tale of power dynamics in an English household.
About the Author
Maggie Gee is the author of The White Family (SAQI isbn: 978-0-86356-380-5), which was shortlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction and for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2004. She is the first female Chair of the Royal Society of Literature.