The Rest of You

Reviews / Votes

A powerful, thoughtful novel about memory and how the past shapes the future * Red Magazine (Best Books of October) * 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 Maame Blue places vulnerability and emotional truth at the heart of this novel, interwoven between place, time and character. A sober meditation of how an individual's present is shaped by their collective past, The Rest is 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 Shuttling between Kumasi, Ghana and London, England, as well as between past and present, 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. The Rest of You is 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 Azucar