My Cleaner
Encyclopedia
My Cleaner is a novel by English author Maggie Gee
. It was first published in 2005 by Saqi Books
and concerns racism and family life. According to Bernardine Evaristo
it was her best novel to that date..
Maggie Gee visited Uganda
in 2003, sponsored by the Cheltenham Literature Festival
's 'Across Continents' commission and a Society of Authors
grant, and the novel features many scenes set in that country. The story is continued in My Driver
(2009).
. Vanessa's 22-year-old son Justin refuses to get out of bed with depression. Justin asks for Mary who looked after him as a child so Vanessa writes to her. Mary returns to London to help Justin, but this time not as a cleaner...
Maggie Gee
Maggie Mary Gee is an English novelist. She was born in Poole, Dorset, then moved to the Midlands and later to Sussex. She was educated at state schools and at Oxford University . She later worked in publishing and then had a research post at Wolverhampton Polytechnic where she completed a...
. It was first published in 2005 by Saqi Books
Saqi Books
Saqi Books is an independent UK publisher co-founded in 1984 by author and feminist Mai Ghoussoub to "print quality academic and general interest books on the Middle East". It now claims to be "the UK's largest publisher of Middle Eastern and Arabic titles"...
and concerns racism and family life. According to Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Evaristo MBE FRSL FRSA is a British author.She was born in London to an English mother and Nigerian Father and was raised in Woolwich, south east London.-Work:Evaristo is the author of six books that include:...
it was her best novel to that date..
Maggie Gee visited Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
in 2003, sponsored by the Cheltenham Literature Festival
Cheltenham Literature Festival
The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature in the Spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Jazz, Music and Science Festivals that run every year....
's 'Across Continents' commission and a Society of Authors
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...
grant, and the novel features many scenes set in that country. The story is continued in My Driver
My Driver
My Driver is a novel by English author Maggie Gee, and is the sequel to My Cleaner. It was first published in 2009 by Telegram Books.It is set in Uganda in the lead-up to the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala....
(2009).
Plot introduction
The story is told from the viewpoint of Vanessa Henman, an English writer, and Mary Tendo Ugandan graduate of Makerere UniversityMakerere University
Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
. Vanessa's 22-year-old son Justin refuses to get out of bed with depression. Justin asks for Mary who looked after him as a child so Vanessa writes to her. Mary returns to London to help Justin, but this time not as a cleaner...
External links
- Cross your cleaner at your peril review from The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
- Review from The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Fiction - Role reversal Review from New StatesmanNew StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....