Overview

What were we, then, if ‘ English' was a prize out of our reach and ‘ Tunisian' was the mask we wore at home?

Growing up in London with Tunisian parents, wayward Nessie finds herself caught between cultures. Her parents don' t want her becoming too English, while at school she doesn' t feel ‘ white enough' or ‘ African enough' to fit in with any group. She even has multiple names: Nesrine officially, Susu to her family, Nessie to everyone else.

And then there' s Mrs Brown: a charismatic woman who befriends her parents and soon becomes the glue holding their dysfunctional family together. Yet after a catastrophic betrayal, Mrs Brown abruptly disappears from their lives.

Years later, Nessie seeks independence but struggles to escape a pattern of self-sabotage. As unsolved family mysteries resurface, she begins to wonder: what really happened between her parents and Mrs Brown?