Vendor
	Liepman Literary Agency Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

HOLD

Michael Donkor

Fresh, funny and poignant, HOLD is a powerful debut and Michael is a thrilling new literary talent (his new publisher is comparing him to Zadie Smith ).

While working as a housegirl in Ghana, bright and sensible Belinda is offered the chance to leave Kumasi and her energetic young friend, Mary, for a new life in London. However, this exciting opportunity comes with a caveat: Belinda must exert a good influence on the wayward Amma, the daughter of her hosts. When Belinda arrives in this bewildering city and is reluctantly greeted by a hostile Amma, the situation seems pretty hopeless and Belinda doubts her decision to move, burying herself in work to quiet her fears. But, slowly, the girls grow close and start to open up to each other. As they begin to have fun, Belinda thrives in her surroundings and lets go of her anxieties, before Amma reveals the reasons for her troubled behaviour: Belinda is horrified by Amma's revelation, and their friendship falls apart. When Belinda is called to return to Kumasi for an emergency, she must quickly decide her future on her own terms, and work out where home' really is.

HOLD immediately caught our attention as a rich, evocative coming of age story with a powerful voice. The themes of home and identity echo those of novels such as AMERICANAH by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but HOLD is very much about two young women navigating their way uncertainly into adulthood, and all the passion, despair and excitement that inspires.

Acquiring editor Helen Garnons-Williams said: 'HOLD is a rare and special novel, whose characters spring off the page. It is poignant, funny and fresh - and incredibly emotionally compelling. Michael is a hugely accomplished and empathetic storyteller and we couldn't be happier to welcome him to 4th Estate.'

Michael Donkor was born in London, to Ghanaian parents, and is a teacher by trade. Many of the issues in this novel are close to his heart, and his writing won him a place on the Writers' Centre Inspires Scheme in 2014, where he received a year's mentoring from Daniel Hahn.

Available products
Book Published 2018-06-01 by 4TH Estate

Comments

Picador

HOLD follows three girls whose lives are strung between Ghana and Brixton. It's both moving and funny, a big-hearted book that will stay with you.' Alex Preston

New Faces of Fiction' This is an annual feature that in previous years has predicted big things for the likes of Jessie Burton, Emma Healey, Sally Rooney and Gail Honeyman, so it's a strong place-marker for HOLD, a novel pitched in the tradition of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith, a coming-of-age story that follows three adolescents - two housegirls and the privileged daughter of newly wealthy immigrants - from Ghana to London as they struggle to come to terms with themselves and the secrets they have kept from each other, in an evocative and wryly comic exploration of friendship, identity, and what it means to feel at home. Read more...