Title The MaidAuthor Nita ProseGenre mystery, thriller, fictionTopics differences, invisibility, classismLenght 304pCover design Elena GiavaldiPublish info January 4, 2022by Ballantine BooksRating ✵✵✵✵✵
"Oh, to be a bird."
This is one of the books I've rarely encountered, and immediately loved – a heart warming story, quirky and charming.The
main character is one that I've not encountered since the time of
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and not as a mare depiction of
people within the spectrum – the quality of both protagonists'
linguistic skills is high and out of the ordinary, in the case of
Molly even delightfully out of her place and time, and both have
issues to understand the highly peculiar behaviour of human beings. A
behaviour that, in both cases, has a tendency of underestimating and
misreading, with the result of excluding the two protagonists from
the society.
I’ve been called many a thing in my quarter century, and what I’ve learned is that the common expression about sticks and stones is backward: sticks and stones often hurt far less than words.
His eyes widened, which perhaps suggests shock? I’ll never understand it—why people find the truth more shocking than lies.
And yet, this characters couldn't be more different from each other.
The book starts strong with a prologue introducing Molly, that leaves nothing to the imagination on her strength and charismatic character.
I am your maid. I’m the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you’re out gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you’ve left behind, the mess, or what I might see when you’re gone.I’m the one who empties your trash, tossing out the receipts you don’t want anyone to discover. I’m the one who changes your sheets, who can tell if you slept in them and if you were alone last night or not. I’m the one who straightens your shoes by the door, who puffs up your pillows and finds stray hairs on them. Yours? Not likely. I’m the one who cleans up after you drink too much and soil the toilet seat, or worse.When I’m done with my work, I leave your room pristine. Your bed is made perfectly, with four plump pillows, as though no one had ever lain there. The dust and grime you left behind has been vacuumed into oblivion. Your polished mirror reflects your face of innocence back at you. It’s as though you were never here. It’s as though all of your filth, all of your lies and deceits, have been erased.I am your maid. I know so much about you. But when it comes down to it: what is it that you know about me?
With this, two things are clear from the beginning: for starters, as a former maid I'm infinitely grateful for not finding some of the horrors Molly describes (now and later). Personal luck aside, the second point concern the themes, already revealed and ready to be built upon: being invisible due to one's social condition, being misjudged for one's differences and the danger of assuming, which as Molly would remark "if you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME".
It’s easier than you’d ever think—existing in plain sight while remaining largely invisible. That’s what I’ve learned from being a maid. You can be so important, so crucial to the fabric of things and yet be entirely overlooked. It’s a truth that applies to maids, and to others as well, so it seems. It’s a truth that cuts close to the bone.
From there the first day on the week Molly's life will be turned upside down begins – what starts being a normal shift reveals itself from something Molly, in all her life built upon rules and external direction, can't possibly find a guide for
Yes. That’s right. Today at work, I found a guest very dead in his bed. Mr. Black. The Mr. Black. Other than that, my workday was as normal as ever.
What that “not so normal workday” sets in motion is a mix of suspense, twists, discoveries, and hit and miss for the poor maid. It's not only a matter of being the silent sidekick while the mystery unveils, but it's about holding her hand in this journey of growth and self-discovery, it's about seeing the world with a different human being's eyes (with a first-person narrative spot on in this occasion -also something you don't experience so often), and maybe taking the vacant place of her former guide.
Gran always said that the truth is subjective, which is something I failed to comprehend until my own life experience proved her wisdom. Now I understand. My truth is not the same as yours because we don’t experience life in the same way. We are all the same in different ways.
I
mostly loved it for the character of Molly and the uniqueness it
brings to the book, but everything about this romance is polished:
style, plot, character development, essence of the book (not to
mention the cover, simple and neat just like our meticulous lady) –
all contributes to make this work a small shiny gem. A promising good
literary start this year.
That’s
the trouble with pain. It’s as contagious as a disease. It spreads
from the person who first endured it to those who love them most.
Truth isn’t always the highest ideal; sometimes it must be
sacrificed to stop the spread of pain to those you love. Even
children know this intuitively.
Author's contacts
About the book
The
main character is one that I've not encountered since the time of
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and not as a mare depiction of
people within the spectrum – the quality of both protagonists'
linguistic skills is high and out of the ordinary, in the case of
Molly even delightfully out of her place and time, and both have
issues to understand the highly peculiar behaviour of human beings. A
behaviour that, in both cases, has a tendency of underestimating and
misreading, with the result of excluding the two protagonists from
the society.
And yet, this characters couldn't be more different from each other.
The book starts strong with a prologue introducing Molly, that leaves nothing to the imagination on her strength and charismatic character.
I’ve been called many a thing in my quarter century, and what I’ve learned is that the common expression about sticks and stones is backward: sticks and stones often hurt far less than words.
His eyes widened, which perhaps suggests shock? I’ll never understand it—why people find the truth more shocking than lies.
The book starts strong with a prologue introducing Molly, that leaves nothing to the imagination on her strength and charismatic character.
I am your maid. I’m the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you’re out gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you’ve left behind, the mess, or what I might see when you’re gone.I’m the one who empties your trash, tossing out the receipts you don’t want anyone to discover. I’m the one who changes your sheets, who can tell if you slept in them and if you were alone last night or not. I’m the one who straightens your shoes by the door, who puffs up your pillows and finds stray hairs on them. Yours? Not likely. I’m the one who cleans up after you drink too much and soil the toilet seat, or worse.
When I’m done with my work, I leave your room pristine. Your bed is made perfectly, with four plump pillows, as though no one had ever lain there. The dust and grime you left behind has been vacuumed into oblivion. Your polished mirror reflects your face of innocence back at you. It’s as though you were never here. It’s as though all of your filth, all of your lies and deceits, have been erased.
I am your maid. I know so much about you. But when it comes down to it: what is it that you know about me?
With this, two things are clear from the beginning: for starters, as a former maid I'm infinitely grateful for not finding some of the horrors Molly describes (now and later). Personal luck aside, the second point concern the themes, already revealed and ready to be built upon: being invisible due to one's social condition, being misjudged for one's differences and the danger of assuming, which as Molly would remark "if you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME".
It’s easier than you’d ever think—existing in plain sight while remaining largely invisible. That’s what I’ve learned from being a maid. You can be so important, so crucial to the fabric of things and yet be entirely overlooked. It’s a truth that applies to maids, and to others as well, so it seems. It’s a truth that cuts close to the bone.
From there the first day on the week Molly's life will be turned upside down begins – what starts being a normal shift reveals itself from something Molly, in all her life built upon rules and external direction, can't possibly find a guide for
Yes. That’s right. Today at work, I found a guest very dead in his bed. Mr. Black. The Mr. Black. Other than that, my workday was as normal as ever.
Gran always said that the truth is subjective, which is something I failed to comprehend until my own life experience proved her wisdom. Now I understand. My truth is not the same as yours because we don’t experience life in the same way. We are all the same in different ways.
I
mostly loved it for the character of Molly and the uniqueness it
brings to the book, but everything about this romance is polished:
style, plot, character development, essence of the book (not to
mention the cover, simple and neat just like our meticulous lady) –
all contributes to make this work a small shiny gem. A promising good
literary start this year.
That’s
the trouble with pain. It’s as contagious as a disease. It spreads
from the person who first endured it to those who love them most.
Truth isn’t always the highest ideal; sometimes it must be
sacrificed to stop the spread of pain to those you love. Even
children know this intuitively.
Author's contacts
About the book
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