My Driver
 First edition | |
| Author | Maggie Gee |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Telegram Books |
Publication date | Mar 2009 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 300 |
| ISBN | 978-1846590795 |
| Preceded by | My Cleaner |
My Driver is a novel by English author Maggie Gee, and is the sequel to My Cleaner.[1] It was first published in 2009 by Telegram Books.
The novel is set in Uganda in the lead-up to the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala.
The book has three main characters :
- London author Vanessa Henman is travelling to Uganda to attend a British Council sponsored conference for African authors to be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala and afterwards as a tourist to see mountain gorillas in Bwindi.
- Mary Tendo, Vanessa's former cleaner is now Executive Housekeeper at the Sheraton; and is unaware that Vanessa will be attending the conference.
- Trevor Patchett, Vanessa's former husband is a plumber and has been invited out to Uganda by Mary Tendo to repair a well in her home village which is no longer supplying water, he is also unaware of Vanessa's visit.
Three other narratives make occasional appearances
- Back in London Vanessa and Trevor's son Justin is looking after his son Abdul Trevor who is unwell whilst Zakira his partner is travelling to Brussels on business
- On the border between Uganda and DR Congo a hungry teenage LRA child-conscript is trying to make his way back home to Uganda
- By way of contrast President Museveni considers his options in dealing with the international tensions.
Reception
[edit]- "Executed with a lovely light touch ... an immensely enjoyable novel" - Lionel Shriver in The Daily Telegraph.[2]
- "Worldly, witty, enjoyable, impressive" - Doris Lessing[3]
- "it's sparky and funny and terrifically entertaining" - Patrick Ness in The Guardian.[4]
- "Fast-moving, energetic, constantly surprising" - Hilary Mantel[5]
- "This is a writer who clearly knows her way through central Africa's alphabet soup of rebel groups, and who also has a clear-eyed grasp of the scramble for money and power that drives the regions wars. Gee's novel is an admirable success" - Matthew Green, Financial Times.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "My Driver" at Amazon.
- ^ Lionel Shriver, "My Driver by Maggie Gee: review", The Telegraph
- ^ Maggie Gee profile, Curtis Brown.
- ^ Patrick Ness, "Out of struggle", The Guardian, 28 March 2009.
- ^ "My Driver" page, Telegram.
- ^ Matthew Green, "My Driver" - review, Financial Times, 13 April 2009.
External links
[edit]- Angela Smith, "Romance and realism out of Africa" (review), The Independent on Sunday.
- Maggie Gee speaks about her new novel My Driver, 22 July 2009.
- first chapter online