The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney

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Pub Date 3 Oct 2019 | Archive Date 21 Oct 2019

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Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2020

'A magnificent novel, full of wit, warmth and tenderness' Andrew McMillan

'Smart, serious and entertaining' Bernardine Evaristo

How do you begin to find yourself when you only know half of who you are?

As Nnenna Maloney approaches womanhood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.

Nnenna is asking big questions of how to 'be' when she doesn't know the whole of who she is. Meanwhile, Joanie wonders how to love when she has never truly been loved. Their lives are filled with a cast of characters asking similar questions about identity and belonging whilst grappling with the often hilarious encounters of everyday Manchester.

Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a funny and heart-warming story that covers the expanse of race, gender, class, family and redemption, with a fresh and distinctive new voice. Perfect for fans of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and Zadie Smith's White Teeth.

'Effortlessly capture[s] the tricky nuance of life, love, race, sexuality and familial relationships' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

'Edifying and hilarious, The Private of Joys of Nnenna Maloney is a beautiful debut that you won't want to put down' Derek Owusu

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2020

'A magnificent novel, full of wit, warmth and tenderness' Andrew McMillan

'Smart, serious and entertaining' Bernardine Evaristo

How do you begin to find...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780349701059
PRICE £16.99 (GBP)
PAGES 320

Average rating from 16 members


Featured Reviews

The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney is a funny, fresh, and touching novel about a teenager growing up and wanting to know more about herself, whilst her mother learns how to share with her daughter the past she's been trying to ignore. Nnenna Maloney is nearly seventeen and lives in Manchester, where people are always wondering about Nnenna and her white mother Joanie. Nnenna wants to connect with her Nigerian heritage, but Joanie doesn't want to talk about the father Nnenna has never known, or deal with the fact that linguist Nnenna might want to study in Paris. And people around them are also probing their own identities, amidst the backdrop of Manchester and everyday life.

This is a novel brimming with sparkle, but also delving deep into questions of race, family, identity, sexuality, and class in a witty and tender way. Nnenna is a great teenage protagonist, torn between her love for her mother and her desire to go against what her mother wants to become her own person, and her and Joanie's relationship is carefully crafted to capture their closeness but also the ways in which Joanie can't quite understand what Nnenna faces due to race and also how her anxiety relates to this. The supporting characters are memorable, from the mental health and dating struggles of a gay black man to the hints of a burgeoning relationship on the edges of Nnenna's friendship group, and the characters are tied together nicely as the plot moves forward.

Heartwarming and hard-hitting, this is a novel you can really get invested in, that looks at how people's identity changes at formative times in their life. It is refreshing to have a novel set in Manchester that looks at how real people live and captures the ups and downs of growing up.

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Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars round up.

Nnenna Maloney is 16 year old mixed-raced girl trying to understand herself and her place in the world, while trying to keep everyone happy. She lives with her white mother and knowns very little about her Nigerian Father. She is surrounded by a bunch of interesting characters who are all following their own paths to happiness.

Essentially this a coming of age story for young adult. Very witty but deals with important issues with sensitivity. It's lovely to have a widely diverse set of characters - different ages, genders, sexual orientation, social-economic status and races too, all without unnecessary frivolity. I especially like that fact that it showed that adults still grapple with their identity and place in the world, so there's no need to have it all figured out by 18.

While I like the different time lines, I'm not sure why the author choose those specific years.

A fun and thoughtful read that I think the young adult market will really relate to and those older will reminisce on.

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