Maame

In George’s captivating debut, narrator Heather Agyepong expresses the vulnerability and curiosity of Maddie, a young Ghanaian British woman seeking a life of her own. Maddie has always been Maame—the responsible one. Although she wants to quit her job and the constant microaggressions she experiences there, she doesn’t, because she must live at home and care for her father who has Parkinson’s. Her mother travels frequently and always needs money, and her older brother barely visits. When her mother finally returns to London, Maddie moves out. Within a short time, she has flatmates, a new job, and a love interest. Then, tragedy strikes. Agyepong gives Maddie a soft-spoken external voice, which deliciously contrasts with Subconscious Maddie, who becomes a fully fledged character with streetwise intonations. Maddie’s inner thoughts flow from anxious to depressed to angry as she navigates being the only Black person in the workplace and the one her family relies on in a pinch. While Agyepong performs women characters with distinct voices, the men sound similar, with only slight variances. Even so, this doesn’t distract from the story, as men are rarely in the same scenes together.