Maame

Maame is the mother of the two female characters whose situations and actions set the two family-narrative lines in motion. Maame is referred to in passing in the book's first two chapters - specifically, the ones named after her two daughters, Effia and Esi. Maame is the ancestress of all the other chapter characters, her bloodline descending down the two separate family lines over decades and contents until, in the novel's final chapter, the two lines are reunited in the friendship of Marjorie (from the African line) and Marcus (from the American line).

In terms of character and personality, Maame is never vividly defined much beyond her love for her daughters, her determination that they live free lives, and her giving them the black stones to remember her by. While one black stone is lost to time, the other is handed down from generation to generation. Both Marjorie...