Description

A powerful tale of womanhood, friendship, family secrets and the Black British experience, set between present-day England and mid-90s Ghana.

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 childhood 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 resolve the mysteries of our past.

Publisher Review

A compelling and heart-wrenching novel that magnificently captures the contemporary Black British experience... A powerful exploration of identity, belonging and the complexities of family dynamics utilising split perspectives to really give us so much insight into these layered characters * Glamour (Best Books of October) * A powerful, thoughtful novel about memory and how the past shapes the future * Red Magazine (Best Books of October) * Aiwanose Odafen and Maame Blue show that both cultural contexts pose different questions about anxieties surrounding identity and who one is supposed to become in a world that is hostile and unforgiving -- Jendella Benson * Jhalak Review * If you're a fan of books like Queenie and The Vanishing Half, you will enjoy Maame Blue's novel The Rest of You... This book has strong themes on generational healing, what it means to be Black British, womanhood, friendships and more * Essence (Top 20 Books for Fall) * A beautiful, compelling exploration of familial bonds, trauma and the secrets of the past. Maame Blue's tender, emotionally rich portrait of diasporic Black lives is a novel to return to. Highly recommended -- Irenosen Okojie, author of Hag