A review by katie_greenwinginmymouth
Hold by Michael Donkor

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed the premise of throwing together Belinda and Amma, two teenagers from Ghanaian families but with very different childhoods - Belinda has grown up in Ghana and at a young age left her mother to be the house girl to a middle class Ghanaian couple, Amma’s parents are old friends of the couple Belinda works for. Amma has had a pretty privileged upbringing in London where her father has a high-earning job that keeps him at work long hours and largely distant from his family.

Belinda is brought over to be a companion to Amma who her parents feel isn’t growing up to be the sort of good Ghanaian girl they would like. Obviously putting Amma and Belinda in this situation is deeply misguided and things do not go smoothly. Both have secrets of their own that the adults do not and could not comprehend.
Amma is reeling from the fall out of her first serious relationship and is struggling to get her head round how she will ever come out to her family as a lesbian. Her first attempt to be honest about her identity massively backfires when Belinda reacts really badly to the news, but Amma herself has been very unkind to Belinda, feeling naturally hostile to this stranger who has been brought in to spy on her.
There are moments where they come to greater understanding of each other but then just as soon things fall apart again, unable to bridge the cultural gulf between them.

Donkor’s writing is beautiful and full of really well observed details and accurate dialogue. There were period details about the music that Amma is into and the clothes that she wears that were just right. Really quite amazed how well he can write about teenage girls!

Ultimately tragedy drags Belinda back to Ghana, and she is thrust back into a society where she must conform but is less willing to do that after seeing how things could be different. I really loved how the ending was handled, you sense that this turbulent year has at least allowed her to recalibrate what is important in life and finally have the courage to do something entirely for herself.
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