The Maid – Nita Prose [SPOILERS]

Our Eleventh #TsundokuSquad monthly book (November) was ‘The Maid’ by Nita Prose. As usual we split the book into parts and discussed as a group on Saturday evenings.

Synopsis:

I am your maid.
I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.
But what do you know about me?

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

Week 1

As a group we were all pretty excited to pick up this book! We all seemed to really enjoy it right from the beginning too, immediately being drawn in to Molly as a character…really enjoying her quirks. I got Tilly vibes (from M W Craven), lots of the others said Eleanor from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely fine and Freckles from Cecelia Ahern.

So far it’s a really easy read and we are incredibly intrigued as to where this is going. What Molly saw in the mirror and what all their pasts are. Lots to unpack.

Our words for week 1 are as below and our ratings are currently split with 2 people on a 5/5, 1 on a 4.5/5, 5 on a 4/5 and 1 on a 3.5/5.

Week 2

At week 2 there are even more unanswered questions and we’re suspecting some foul play (potentially drugs) in the hotel.

We love how Mr Preston protects Molly, she obviously needs it now without her Grandma and she’s managed to involve herself in some sketchy business. We’re not yet sure how this al links in to the murder though…

We are worried Giselle is using her like Rodney is.

We also had a conversation about Molly potentially turning into an unreliable narrator. Glimmers of this are where she knew how to go and pawn the ring. Some of us are sold on this, others less so. We shall see.

We are however, all still really enjoying it.

Our words for this weeks part can be summed up below and our ratings are 5 people on a 4/5, one on a 4.5/5 and three on a 5/5.

Week 3

The same question about Molly are being discussed, is there something more sinister about her we’re not seeing or is she really just this innocent and naive?

We’re really wondering how this is going to end and hoping it isn’t left unsolved. Someone (forgive me as I cannot remember who) said “Maybe she found out about Rodders and Giselle and SHE is framing THEM”…

We are really enjoying her relationship with Juan and hope this blossoms, as they could do with each other.

Our words for this week can be seen below and our ratings are 2 people as a 4/5, 5 people as a 4.5/5 and 2 as a 5/5.

Week 4/Last Week

We are very glad we got the answers to the mirror question and most of us loved who the killer was. Even if it was seemingly a little out the blue…

We are also so pleased that Molly has found her people and is starting to get her life back together. We are unsure on if Mr Preston is actually her grandfather? The way he referred to grans boyfriend as a ‘friend’ seemed a bit obscure.

Leaning more about her gran was heartbreaking but we were very happy with the happy ending.

We had a discussion about the upcoming TV adaption and what would be potentially good and bad from it but we’re all excited to watch it.

This was an easy, enjoyable read that we felt we could all have whizzed through in a day. We loved molly and all that she stood for. We all agreed that this was the best book we’ve read together so far.

Our words for this week and the book overall are as below. Ratings wise we had one person at a 4/5, two people at 4.5/5 and the rest at 5/5.

Our overall group rating: 4.5/5

My individual rating: 5/5

You may love this book, you may hate this book – the only way to find out is to read it (if you want!).

…our December book is ‘Underneath The Christmas Tree’ by Heidi Swain, we hope you check in to see what we think of it.