“A sober meditation of how an individual's present is shaped by their collective past, The Rest Of You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation” — Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time
“A sober meditation of how an individual's present is shaped by their collective past, The Rest Of You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation” — Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time
THE REST OF YOU
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.
Advance praise for Maame Blue’s The Rest of You
“Blue follows Bad Love with an affecting tale of a British Ghanaian woman’s buried trauma….This powerful story of friendship, sisterhood, and resilience will linger in readers’ minds.”
“A sober meditation of how an individual's present is shaped by their collective past, The Rest Of You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation”
— Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time
“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
“The Rest Of You is a story of friendship, loss, trauma and hope, that explores multi-generational pain and the secrets and silences that families can fall into in a bid to move forward ... a quintessential immigrant story with a particular Black British twist, with its characters sometimes misremembering their roots, but shaped by them, their journey to completeness dependent on learning and accepting that history is their foundation, hybridity is their power and togetherness is their strength”
— Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of Azúcar
“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 Curandera
“The Rest of You is sharply written and is a compelling read. In this book, Maame Blue is incisive in her exploration of friendship and family”
— Peace A. Medie, author of Nightbloom
“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 and Strong Like Me
“Gripping - you wonder what isn't being said, but you feel it anyway”
— Gabriel Gbadamosi, author of Vauxhall