In a Nutshell: An interesting debut work focussing on the titular ‘Maame’, who is caught between her duty and her life. As an OwnVoices coming-of-age work, the novel delivers to a great extent on its promise, though it did have certain flaws.

Story Synopsis:

Maddie, a British-Ghanaian girl in her mid-twenties, is the ‘Maame’ of her family, Maame meaning ‘woman’ in their native Twi. With an absent mum and an irresponsible elder brother, Maddie is the one taking care of her ailing father as well as their financial requirements. She barely has any personal life beyond this. When her mum promises to return from Ghana, Maddie finally decides to take charge of her own life and do everything she couldn’t or hadn’t. Will it really be as easy as that?
The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Maddie.

Unlike my usual headings of what I liked and what I disliked, I will have only one category this time, because the entire book left me with mixed feelings. The only exception was the title, for which I have only positive feelings. Not only does it serve as an interesting first point of appeal, but it is also justified in almost every chapter.

Mixed feelings all the way:
⚠ This is the first book I have read with a Ghanaian character (and by an author of Ghanaian origin.) I liked the insight the author showed us into the beliefs and behaviour of the Ghanaian people. She also depicts the struggles of second-generation immigrants nicely. At the same time, there is hardly anything positive about Ghanaian culture. The first-gen people are depicted as selfish pests.

⚠ Maddie is overly dependent on Google for even tiny things, and these online searches add a lot of fun to the plot. This could go either way, of course. Some of her online queries are ridiculous. But I found it hilarious how she googled even the stupidest of things and took the advice seriously. On a related note, Maddie’s first-person inner rambling also has some good bits of humour.

⚠ Maddie does justice to the title role. She is not portrayed as the perfect girl. She is dutiful, loyal, and intelligent, but she is also easy to push over, gullible, and impulsive. This realistic portrayal appealed to me. At the same time, I felt like she was too naïve and closeted to be believable. She was a 25-year-old Londoner for goodness’ sake! How could she not be aware of certain basics, especially considering her reliance on Google? Her blatant lies and her judgemental behaviour, especially in the second half, didn’t endear her to me. Also, her transformation from homebody to a free bird living on her own terms is too instant to be convincing.

⚠ As is common with many debut authors’ works, Maame too includes a whole range of themes within its plot: death of a family member, grief, corporate/professional conflicts, peer pressure, mental health issues, familial troubles, micro-aggressions, racism, sexual identity crises, romantic problems, Parkinson’s and the sadness it brings, extra-marital affairs, online dating,… Many of these were relevant and well-written, but some of the issues felt shoehorned. A few of the scenes felt like they were added only for the potential for social commentary though they had no direct impact on Maddie’s life.

⚠ Other than Maddie, none of her family members are written as likeable. One scene with Maddie’s roommate felt really silly and out of character. Her work colleagues are idiotic most of the times, and her friends, while having great roles, come in the main scenes just a few times. As such, if you like Maddie, you will like the book. But if you find her irritating, you might hate the content because there is no other character to fall back upon.

⚠ The writing is a too simplistic. This work has been marked as ‘New Adult’ (which is nothing but YA with Sex Scenes IMHO) by the publishers, and the book does fit the NA genre well. But I wish the writing had been more nuanced.

⚠ The book tries to be gender-inclusive with the presence of lesbian and bi characters. However, a certain subplot is highly biphobic.


The audiobook experience:
The audiobook, clocking at a little over 10 hours, is narrated by Heather Agyepong. She does a fabulous job of voicing Maddie and her insecurities as well as newfound confidence. If you are an avid audiobook listener, you will certainly enjoy her nuanced narration. If you are an audiobook newbie, this would be a good book to begin your audio journey with as there are no multiple timelines or varying perspectives to confuse you. The narration is easy-going on the ears.


When I looked at the author’s profile, I realised that she has quite a few things in common with Maddie. So is this partially autobiographical? I would have preferred an author’s note about this aspect. (It is quite possible that such a note exists in the digital/paper copies, but my audio version didn’t have it.)

All in all, this book has appeal as the coming-of-age story from a British-Ghanaian perspective. It has plenty of emotions, good and bad and ugly. The main character is what will make or break the book for you, so if you do pick it up, I hope you like her so that you can connect better with the book.

3.5 stars, rounding up for the excellent narration in the audio version.


My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Maame”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.




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This was a story of a twenty something woman who lives in current time but has been sheltered by her need to be her father's almost full-time caretaker. She has a job she does not like and makes her feel taken advantage of. She rarely dates and does not know the "signs" or the intricacies of dating. She has few friends and is depressed. She quits her current job and finds another job with a small publishing house. She feels underutilized and wants more responsibilities. She meets the "boyfriend" of one of her "friends" and is immediatlely drawn to him because of their common background. Several things take place. She meets and is then betrayed by a man. Her father dies on a day she would have been with him if she had not partied the night before. She is unable to return to her new job for a few weeks because of her guilt and the deep loss she feels. She reconnects with the man her she med through her "friend" and he helps her to begin to heal. A good story with a happy ending.

Kirkus: After a loss, a young British woman from a Ghanaian family reassesses her responsibilities.

Her name is Maddie, but the young protagonist in George’s engaging coming-of-age novel has always been known to her family as Maame, meaning woman. On the surface, this nickname is praise for Maddie’s reliability. Though she’s only 25, she works full time at a London publishing house and cares for her father, who’s in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease. Maddie’s older brother, James, has little interest in helping out, and their mother is living in Ghana and running the business she inherited from her own father. When she needs money, she always calls Maddie, who shoulders these expectations and burdens without complaint, never telling her friends about her frustrations: “We’re Ghanaian, so we do things differently” is an idea that's ingrained in her. Her only confidant is Google, to whom she types desperate questions and gets only moderately helpful responses. (Google does not truly understand the demands of a religious yet remote African-born mother.) But when Maddie loses her job and tragedy strikes, she begins to question the limits of family duty and wonders what sort of life she can create for herself. With a light but firm touch, George illustrates the casual racism a young Black woman can face in the British (or American) workplace and how cultural barriers can stand in the way of aspects of contemporary life such as understanding and treating depression. She examines Maddie’s awkward steps toward adulthood and its messy stew of responsibility, love, and sex with insight and compassion. The key to writing a memorable bildungsroman is creating an unforgettable character, and George has fashioned an appealing hero here: You can’t help but root for Maddie’s emancipation. Funny, awkward, and sometimes painful, her blossoming is a real delight to witness.

A fresh, often funny, always poignant take on the coming-of-age novel. ( )

Let’s cut to the chase… Despite various publisher statements about Maame being ‘funny’ and ‘hilarious’, this is not a romantic comedy novel. Sure, there are observations and situations peppered throughout this tale that are fleetingly funny in an awkward/dark way, but at no point did I find myself actually chuckling while reading. I usually revel in dark and dry humour, but in this case, it was too often wrapped up in self-doubt, self-sabotage and deep grief for me to garner much levity from it.

Humour, though, is very subjective, and my 4+ decade perspective on life may just not have jibed well with this twenty-something author’s or that of her similarly aged leading lady Maddie Wright. What for me seemed like excessive levels of self-doubt, e.g. repeatedly asking Google what she should do in situations, presented a barrier to my feeling any real sense of kinship with the character.

That all said, I did very much “feel for” Maddie Wright as she navigated the myriad challenges she faces. Continue reading: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2024/04/maame-jessica-george.html ( )

Maame is a novel rich in culture, specifically the Akan-speaking people of Ghana, where Twi is the dialect spoken in southern and central Ghana. Maame translates to "woman" in Twi which means "woman", a term Maddie's mother has called her 25 year-old daughter since she was young. Maddie had graduated with a university degree in English Literature when her father was diagnosed with late-stage Parkinson's disease. Instead of moving on to live her life as adult, she is tasked with taking a job to maintain a stable income to care for her father. Maddie's mother spends most her time helping to run a hostel in Ghana, leaving the responsibility to Maddie to care for her father in London. Although he has a caregiver, Dawoud, he requires around the clock care leaving Maddie rather stunted in her social development as a young adult. It doesn't help that her 15 year-old brother also chooses to escape responsibility by never being available to help his sister physically or financially with care of his father. He chooses to float about living with friends and working for musicians. .

Maddie's job is less than fulfilling given that she is the only Black person who was hired to provide the visual of the workplace being "diverse". She keeps people at a distance even her best friend as realizes that she is emotionally and socially awkward because of her ability to experience life like her peers. It's only when Maddie's mother returns to London for a year does Maddie move past her guilt and fears to move out on her own leaving her mother to care for her father. Maddie is not prepared for the life of and independent young adult and often finds herself using Google for advice because she has no close relationships. As you can imagine, she learns from her missteps and mishaps the lessons she feels she should already lived. After finding a flat where she finds living with other young women a chance to make new friends and expand her horizons by finding a job where she can use her university degree.

This is a bitter sweet "coming-of-age" story of a 25 year-old who finally gets to explore the life she was meant to live. Her experiences are life altering in positive and challenges ways as she can no longer rely on Google to help her maneuver life. She needs to confront tragedy and loss so that she can develop the confidence and self-esteem necessary to progress as an adult in the world. The author draws you into Maddie's story in a personal manner which has you wanting to help Maddie and steer her in a better direction. Life is an experience which one can only experience individually both happiness and sorrow.

Many thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me access to read this digital book. My review of this book is my honest and unbiased opinion. All comments are expressly my own. ( )

A coming of age story about a 25 year old woman born to parents who emigrated from Ghana to England. She assumed adult responsibilities for the household and her father with Parkinson's disease in her early teens. Her domineering mother is absent every other year on trips to Ghana.

Although Maddie has adult responsibilities, she is naive about social interactions. She has often been alone and repressed because of her mother's insistence that she should not tell outsiders about their family's business. Added to that loneliness is the isolation she feels as the only black woman at work and other social situations.

This book focuses on what happens when at the age of 25 her mother returns and Maddie is able to move out of the family home. She negotiates finding roommates, loses a job she hated and finds one more suited to her talents. And she begins dating for the first time in 8 years.

Shortly after she moves out, her father dies unexpectedly. Ultimately, this is a story about how Maddie deals with that grief, in addition to the rest of the upheaval in her life. ( )