Chapter 1 Summary: Maddie's Life as a Young Caregiver
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Chapter One opens with Maddie (Madeleine) describing her rigid weekday routine. She wakes five minutes before her 6:00 A.M. alarm, tiptoes past her father's ground-floor bedroom, and prepares breakfast, lunch, and snacks for both of them. She cooks pasta for his lunch, rice for his dinner, and cuts fruit—oranges today, strawberries saved for tomorrow. Her father's carer, Dawoud, arrives while she showers, and she hears him on the phone to his wife in Yemen. Maddie dresses for her office job, tunes into a prayer channel her mother quizzes her about, and sets a reminder to call Dr. Appong about her father's swollen feet.
The narrative then flashes back eight years to the day her father received his Parkinson's diagnosis—the same day she was supposed to attend her college prom with Charlie, a quiet boy from her maths class. She cancelled at the last minute. The chapter also recalls an earlier evening when her father got lost on Spar Lane, only ten minutes from home. He called her, frightened, and a nearby woman confirmed his location. Maddie walked to him and realized he genuinely couldn't find his way back along a route he'd taken for six years. She marks that day as "The Beginning."
Maddie explains her family situation: her mother lives mostly in Ghana, running a hostel inherited from her grandfather, returning to London for a year at a time before going back. Her older brother James moved out years ago, choosing his friends over a household he felt was falling apart. Maddie stayed to care for their father.
On her commute, she texts her best friend Nia, who is studying in Utah. She reflects on how her school friendships faded when she stayed in London to look after her dad, leaving her with only Nia. On the train, she people-watches and googles jobs with the happiest employees, noting that her own administrative role ranks among the unhappiest.
A message from her mother triggers a flashback to the previous night's phone call. Her mother asked for money, dismissed Maddie's confession of sadness and anxiety, discouraged her from seeing a GP, and insisted that prayer and faith were the only remedies. She called Maddie "Maame," a Twi word meaning "woman," and implied that Maddie's unhappiness stemmed from not going out enough or finding a husband. After hanging up, Maddie cried while preparing dinner, whispering self-critical words to herself and slapping her forehead in frustration.
Key Events
- Maddie's father receives a Parkinson's diagnosis on the day of her college prom, which she cancels.
- Her father gets lost on Spar Lane, an event Maddie calls "The Beginning" of his decline.
- Maddie's mother calls from Ghana, asking for money and dismissing Maddie's mental health struggles.
- Maddie's mother forbids her from seeing a GP, insisting faith alone can cure her.
- Maddie cries while cooking dinner, blaming herself for her sadness.
Character Development
Maddie (Madeleine): The narrator and protagonist, Maddie is a dutiful, self-reliant caregiver who has sacrificed her social life and independence to look after her father. She is meticulous and organized, but also deeply isolated—she admits she has few friends and that her friendships were based on convenience. Her internal monologue reveals a young woman struggling with depression and anxiety, yet she blames herself rather than recognizing external pressures. Her habit of googling symptoms and solutions shows a desire to fix herself, but also a lack of trusted support.
Dad: Maddie's father is portrayed with tenderness. He is physically diminished by Parkinson's—thinner, with memory lapses—but still capable of moments of warmth, like telling Maddie he loves her. His illness is the emotional center of the chapter, and his vulnerability contrasts with the strong, unafraid man Maddie remembers.
Mum: Though absent, Maddie's mother looms large. She is pragmatic, religious, and financially dependent on Maddie, yet emotionally dismissive. Her insistence that Maddie's sadness is a spiritual failing rather than a medical issue reflects a generational and cultural gap. She calls Maddie "Maame," a title that once made Maddie feel grown-up but now feels like a burden.
James: Maddie's older brother is briefly sketched as someone who escaped the household, choosing his friends over family. His absence highlights Maddie's isolation and the uneven distribution of caregiving responsibility.
Nia: Maddie's best friend, currently in Utah, provides a lifeline of normalcy and humor. Their text exchange about schoolchildren on the bus shows a warm, easy friendship—the one relationship where Maddie can be herself.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Family Privacy: The chapter opens with Maddie explaining that in her Ghanaian family, private matters are kept within the household. This cultural norm explains why she hides her father's condition and her mother's absence from friends, and why she feels unable to seek help.
Caregiving Burden: Maddie's routine is a symbol of her unpaid, invisible labor. She prepares meals, manages medications, and coordinates with carers, all while working a full-time job. The weight of this responsibility is evident in her exhaustion and her inability to prioritize her own needs.
Mental Health Stigma: Maddie's mother dismisses her sadness as a lack of faith or fun, and Maddie internalizes this, blaming herself and even hitting her head. The chapter illustrates how cultural and familial attitudes can prevent people from seeking professional help.
Maternal Absence: Maddie's mother is physically absent but emotionally controlling, using phone calls to demand money and dictate Maddie's behavior. Her absence creates a void that Maddie fills with self-reliance, but also with loneliness.
Faith vs. Medicine: The mother's insistence on prayer over medical treatment represents a broader tension between religious belief and modern healthcare. Maddie's quiet pushback—"Then why doesn't He give you money?"—shows her skepticism, but she still tunes into the prayer channel to appease her mother.
The Meaning of "Maame": The Twi word for "woman" is a motif that recurs throughout the novel. For Maddie, it once felt like an honor, but now it feels like a label that forces her to be strong and self-sufficient, denying her own vulnerability.
People-Watching and Google Searches: Maddie's habit of observing strangers and googling answers reflects her attempt to understand her own life from the outside. These searches—about Parkinson's, happiness, and jobs—reveal her anxieties and her search for control.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter One establishes the novel's central tensions: Maddie's devotion to her father versus her own unmet needs, her mother's emotional and financial demands, and her struggle to reconcile her cultural upbringing with her mental health. It introduces the key relationships—with Dad, Mum, James, and Nia—and sets up the narrative voice: wry, observant, and deeply vulnerable beneath a surface of competence. The chapter also plants the seed of Maddie's eventual journey toward self-discovery, as she begins to question the roles she's been assigned. The title's significance is introduced here, and the reader is left with a clear sense of the emotional weight Maddie carries.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Maddie's morning routine reveal the burden of caregiving?
Maddie's routine is a series of small, repetitive tasks—cooking pasta, cutting fruit, setting reminders—that she performs without acknowledgment or help. The detail that she wakes before her alarm and moves silently to avoid disturbing her father shows how her life revolves around his needs. Her comment that she assigns cleaning tasks to "tomorrow evening" or "Saturday afternoon" suggests she is perpetually behind, and her isolation is underscored by the fact that none of her friends know about this routine.
2. What does the mother's phone call reveal about the family's attitude toward mental health?
Maddie's mother dismisses her daughter's sadness as a lack of faith or social activity, telling her to go outside more and find a husband. She explicitly forbids Maddie from seeing a GP, claiming doctors push unnecessary drugs. This reveals a cultural and generational belief that mental illness is not a legitimate medical condition but a spiritual or moral failing. Maddie's internal response—googling "How to be happy" and trying to fix herself—shows how this stigma has led her to blame herself rather than seek help.
3. Why does Maddie mark the day her father got lost as "The Beginning"?
Maddie uses "The Beginning" to identify the moment she realized her father's condition was serious. Before that, his clumsiness and memory lapses were attributed to aging. But when he couldn't find his way home on a familiar route, she understood that something was fundamentally wrong. The phrase also marks the beginning of her role as caregiver, as she became the one who had to guide him home—both literally and figuratively.