I finished Maggie’s Going Nowhere by Rose Hartley this morning and knew I needed to write a review immediately. Maggie Cotton is 29 years old and has never had a job, a proper home, or even paid her own bills. She has successfully avoided responsibility by living off welfare, friends, family, and boyfriends all her adult life. However, they have all finally had enough of her reckless behaviour and she finds herself alone with nowhere to live, no money, and no more excuses.

First, let’s get the negatives out of the way. Maggie’s character is truly awful. She is selfish and thoughtless and hurts others with her flippant attitude to life and complete disregard for their feelings. So why am I completely enamoured with Maggie and her story if she is this terrible?

Well, I’ve made a list.

1. Maggie’s authenticity – As the story is told from Maggie’s first person point of view, we are inside her every thought as we see her trainwreck of a life crash and burn. She is brutally hard on those around her but equally as hard on herself, even though she finds ways to excuse her bad behaviour. I read some negative reviews on goodreads where readers disliked Maggie’s character so much that they didn’t enjoy reading the book. I appreciate what readers dislike about her, but Maggie being so flawed meant that she had nothing to hide and we got to know Maggie without anything held back. We all have regrets from the past and shameful events we’re not proud of (hopefully we all do – maybe I’m relating too hard to Maggie!!). Still, it’s not often a book has a character who has messed up their life so spectacularly as in Maggie’s Going Nowhere.
2. Maggie and her best friend Jen’s friendship – Plots that centre the female friendship on par with the romantic storyline are just the best. Maggie and Jen genuinely adore each other and are rock solid in their commitment to each other’s happiness. They are also hilarious and have a great time together, whether on a night out at the pub or eating dinner on the couch watching The Bachelor. While Maggie has a list a mile long of ways she has used Jen as a crutch, their friendship is strong and they still seek out the best in each other.
3. It is an almost entirely character-driven story and it is still brilliant – So books with characters as the main focus can be great, but sometimes they can get a little dull if not much else is happening. There was certainly a plot in Maggie’s Going Nowhere but for the most part, the story was seeing the world through Maggie’s eyes and I never got bored. It is also the kind of book that is truly enjoyable to read all the way through, not just because there is a mystery to solve or to see how it ends. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good mystery but Maggie’s Going Nowhere was pure entertainment from start to finish.
4. All the other characters are so detailed and entertaining – I felt like I met the characters in real life and could imagine them all so well because of Rose Hartley’s fantastic descriptions. In chapter six when Maggie is making a phone call, she says “the girl who picked up sounded like Charlene from the golden years of neighbours” and it was perfect. When seeing her childhood nemesis flirting with her boyfriend at a party, she describes her as having “a pretty face painted Ooma Loompa-orange, hair as blonde as a Swede’s, eyes lined as black as a university fresher’s” created a crystal clear visual of the evil Sarah.
5. The ending – I finished this book feeling like I’d been hanging out with Maggie and feeling that she is out there living her life. Almost as if I might bump into her on the street and have a chat (if I lived in Melbourne, of course, which I do not).

If you have read this far into the review, it will be extremely obvious that I think very highly of this book. It wasn’t even on my TBR that I’ve been compiling for the rest of 2024. I’m hoping to have that list ready for my next blog but in the meantime, please read Maggie’s Going Nowhere and love it as much as I did.

See you next time!