Maame

Content Warning: This section discusses and depicts mental health issues such as depression and panic attacks, as well as racism. It also includes a brief mention of suicide in the Chapter 42 Summary.

Twenty-five-year-old Maddie Wright keeps many details of her life to herself because, growing up, her Ghanaian family taught her that they do things differently because of their culture. For example, none of Maddie’s friends know her father is being treated for Parkinson’s disease. She and her father live in Croydon, South London. Maddie’s brother, James, lives in Putney, and their mother is living in Ghana for the year because she runs a hostel there, left to her by her grandfather. When Maddie’s mother first inherited the hostel, she refused to uproot the family from England to Ghana because she was concerned Maddie would not get the same opportunities there. At the time, Maddie hadn’t told any of her friends about the unusual familial arrangement because “[her] parents weren’t the same as [her friends’] and their marriage isn’t conventional. They do things their own way” (5). She used to have a large group of friends, but most of them left the city for university.