The Rest of You
An emotionally wrenching novel tackling key themes such as generational trauma and what it means to be Black British, surviving between the gaps of knowledge around familial migrant journeys, set in today's London and Ghana in the mid-90s.
On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients' trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she too is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark.
When a dangerous encounter with the man she's dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi, Ghana.
Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts Gloria and Aretha, and their house help Maame Serwaa, The Rest of You explores what happens when we try to move forward through the lacuna of our past.
'A novel that doesn't shy away from the modern issues of being Black and female. At times heartbreaking, this portrait of a family coming to terms with a tragic past is vivid and tender.' – Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City
'Maame Blue's skill at crafting characters that take bits of your heart with them as you read the final pages; is a true gift. Following the characters through the intertwining of multiple timelines brought forth the force that yearning and longing actually possess. A wonderful book!' – Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here
'Equal parts romance and coming-of-age story, Blue's emotionally charged debut explores the highs and lows of love…Those looking for heavy emotion in their romance should jump on this one.' – Publisher's Weekly on Bad Love
'What is singularly powerful about Bad Love, and commendable for this reason alone, is that the winners and losers in love are all Black. It's so unusual to have a Black woman lead in a romance story, that it is sadly still remarkable.' – Words of Colour on Bad Love
Maame Blue is a Ghanaian-Londoner, part-time Melbourne resident, and author of the novel Bad Love (Jacaranda Books), named as one of the top 3 debuts of 2020 by Cheltenham Literature Festival. She is the winner of the 2021 Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize. Maame is also a recipient of the 2022 Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, an Arts Council England 2022 Develop Your Creative Practice grant, and was a 2022 POCC Artist-in-Residence. Her short stories have appeared in Not Quite Right For Us (Flipped Eye Publishing), New Australian Fiction 2020 (Kill Your Darlings), and Joyful, Joyful (Pan Macmillan). Maame's writing has appeared in multiple media publications, including Refinery29, The Independent and iNews.
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