- My Driver
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My Driver 
1st editionAuthor(s) Maggie Gee Country England Language English Publisher Telegram Books Publication date Mar 2009 Media type Print Pages 300 ISBN 978-1-84659-052-8 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.
It 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 at 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
- '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 pf the scramble for money and power that drives the regions wars. Gee's novel is an admirable success' - Matthew Green, Financial Times.[6]
References
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Driver-Maggie-Gee/dp/1846590523
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5170260/My-Driver-by-Maggie-Gee-review.html
- ^ http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/maggiegee/
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/28/my-driver
- ^ http://www.telegrambooks.com/archives/my_driver/
- ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ebf5b65c-24ac-11de-9a01-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1QyBeDSVl
External links
Categories:- 2009 novels
- Novels about writers
- Novels set in Uganda
- Sequel novels
- 2007 in fiction
- Fictional drivers
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