Hold

At times, there are flashes of Jane Eyre in Belinda's role as a governess of sorts, but there is no Mr Rochester to save her from her life, nor a sugary ending. The focus is on the love that flows between women and the need for Belinda to find a place that feels like home ... Their lives are hard, yet a profound sense of hope resonates from within Donkor's warm and accomplished novel. Arifa Akbar, Observer

` Donkor's principal achievement is the dignity and generosity of spirit with which he imbues a central character from a largely invisible seam of African society' Guardian

`Donkor's debut novel concerns itself with those who don't traditionally get much of a look-in when it comes to fiction: two Ghanaian house girls... A warm and intelligent story, offering full-bodied characters and a fortifying examination of courage' Mail on Sunday

`There's something terribly moving about Michael Donkor's debut novel ... Written as a three-hander, it is wondrous' Press Association

`Michael Donkor is a real talent, and Hold is a brave, unpredictable and generous-hearted novel' Sarah Winman, author of Tin Man

`There's much to love in Michael Donkor's debut novel. His eye for acute observations coupled with a gift for pitch perfect metaphors are joyful to read. But it's the emotional truths he unearths from the inner lives of three disparate women that make the novel stand up and sing. Hold is a powerful and important work of fiction' Courttia Newland, author of The Gospel According to Cane

`A beautiful novel. A deeply engrossing, elegant tapestry of family and friendship from a stirring new voice' Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish

`An arresting and textured novel ... He has a gift for succinct, piercing description' Observer

`Moving and funny, a big-hearted book that will stay with you' Guardian, Best Fiction for 2018

Michael Donkor was born in London, to Ghanaian parents. He studied English at Wadham College, Oxford, undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and now teaches English Literature to secondary school students. Many of the issues in this novel are close to his heart, and his writing won him a place on the Writers' Centre Norwich Inspires Scheme in 2014, where he received a year's mentoring from Daniel Hahn.