The Maid (Nita Prose)🔰

Winner: All Time Endearing Books

An out and out entertainer. That is how I would describe The Maid by debut author Nita Prose. One of the most anticipated books of 2022, The Maid does not disappoint on any account and emerges as an outright winner. It possibly is the best way to start your “reading year” with this enjoyable and easy read with elements of suspense, thrill, humor and above all, friendship.

Beautiful Characterization

“Molly The Maid”, a sure shot contender for the character of the year! Nita Prose does a swell job in weaving such a beautiful and unique character, so unlike any other I have read thus far. A character who takes things too literally, whose every action follows the rule meticulously. Molly does everything in the “right” manner. She comes across as irritatingly formal & cordial and cannot make small talk. For instance, she would chew each bite of her food a certain number of times. Because, that is the right way to eat to aid digestion! Funny but endearing at the same time. She is a person who is socially inadept. But takes huge pride in her job, in being a maid and in adorning her uniform.

Plot – Suspense Element

What a lovely story Nita Prose has here. It is a pleasure to get what you expected off this book. The title had set me imagining what the story would be like, and Nita Prose surely keeps up to the expectations and betters them by a mile. To put it short, Molly on her daily morning cleaning routine, finds a regular client, Mr. Black, dead in his room when she goes to their suite for the clean up. What follows is a ride full of excitement with false indictments, betrayals, unexpected but true friendships blossoming and of course, the who-dun-it suspense that concludes this ride.

Friendship

With the suspense and thrill element aside, a stand out highlight of the book for me is – friendship. After the passing of her Gran, Molly is all by herself – no true friend she can call her own. But as time would have it, the adversity she finds herself in makes her discover genuine friends for life and she no longer is lonely as before. Be it Charlotte, Mr. Preston, Juan Manuel or even Giselle – they now have her back. A sequence I truly loved in the book was when Molly alerts Giselle to leave the hotel, and never does she disclose anything about her to the police. She shows true friendship and gets the same in return.

Humor

The book has it’s share of light moments that make you laugh out loud. The shear way in which Molly speaks with Rodney for instance in full complete formal sentences is funny in itself. How each time her phone rings in the middle of their dinner, Molly would start out saying to Juan “I normally don’t take calls in between….” and he says “Is Ok!” hahaha. The best of the lot was when Detective Stark while interrogating Molly extends her hand forward, expecting Molly to hand her phone back. But Molly quite innocently hands her the empty cup of tea. And Stark is like, ‘Do you think I am your maid?’ hah.

A Pertinent Point

Another thing I truly loved about this book was the pertinent point that the author makes about how justice & truth are subjective.

Conclusion:

All is well that ends well. As the book tells you – Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end. Just one of the several one liners from Molly’s Gran that are teachings for life. This lovely book concludes with everything being okay! Everyone happy! And I love happy endings! No wonder, this is a book I have loved to the core.

Buy your copy here -> Amazon.

And before we go, you may want to have a look at these other debut novels that make for good reading. Black Cake (Charmaine Wilkerson) is an endearing read that is sure to impress you. A Flicker In The Dark for the ones into suspense & crime novels, One Hundred Years Of Lenni And Margot is a lovable read deserves much more praise than it has received. And for historical fiction fans, The Lost Apothecary (Sarah Penner) is waiting to be read!