Overview

My cleaner. She does my dirty work. She knows more about me than anyone else in the world. But does she, in fact, like me? Does her presence fill me with shame? 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 towards a startling climax on a snowbound motorway. Maggie Gee confronts racism and class conflict with humour and tenderness in this moving, funny, engrossing read.

Full Product Details

9781846590085

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Maggie Gee is a superb and pitiless analyser of middle-class angst. Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance.' The Times 'Maggie Gee is one of our most ambitious and challenging novelists.' Sunday Times 'This beautifully observed, intelligent and moving novel is one of those rare things - a small, carefully wrapped surprise that gets better and better with the unravelling.' The Scotsman 'My Cleaner is a moving, funny, engrossing book.' The Observer 'Gee satirises the liberal conscience of the chattering classes with uncomfortable perception in this hugely enjoyable novel ...' Metro 'Gee is unique as a novelist who is white and explores issues of race.' Bernardine Evaristo 'Her writing is clear as glass and has marvellous rhythm, fluency and grace.' Observer

'Maggie Gee is a superb and pitiless analyser of middle-class angst. Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance.' The Times 'Maggie Gee is one of our most ambitious and challenging novelists.' Sunday Times 'This beautifully observed, intelligent and moving novel is one of those rare things - a small, carefully wrapped surprise that gets better and better with the unravelling.' The Scotsman 'My Cleaner is a moving, funny, engrossing book.' The Observer 'Gee satirises the liberal conscience of the chattering classes with uncomfortable perception in this hugely enjoyable novel ...' Metro 'Gee is unique as a novelist who is white and explores issues of race.' Bernardine Evaristo 'Her writing is clear as glass and has marvellous rhythm, fluency and grace.' Observer

Author Information

Maggie Gee was chosen as one of Granta's original 'Best Young British Novelists'. She has published many novels to great acclaim, including The White Family, which was shortlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction and for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2004; and The Flood, which was longlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize. She is the first female Chair of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available