The Cleaner Paperback by Mary Watson

Product Details

• Publisher: Random House Canada (2025-07-29)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 400 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781039013315
• Item Weight: 283.5 grams
• Dimensions: 7.97 x 5.17 x 0.77 cm

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

It’s not dust she’s looking for . . . it’s dirt.

Esmie is meant to be invisible. A cleaner for an exclusive gated neighbourhood in Ireland, Esmie fades into the background, slipping in and out of kitchens and closets, quietly observing her clients’ perfect domestic lives. These entitled families only see a quiet woman with a mop in hand, who speaks with an accent they don’t bother to place, and this is exactly what she wants.

Esmie is well aware that her employers don’t truly see her. To them, she’s a foreigner who cleans up their messes. But there’s one mess she refuses to clean up. Because Esmie is not a cleaner. She’s come to this neighborhood for one purpose and one purpose only. Revenge. Armed with a duster and a cunning plan, Esmie could soon find herself entangled with the very people she came to destroy.

The Cleaner exposes the dark underbelly of a protected society, revealing the dirty truths that lie beneath its polished facades of privilege.

About the Author

MARY WATSON is from Cape Town and now lives on the west coast of Ireland. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, where she taught for many years. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her adult publishing in South Africa, and in 2014 was named on the Africa39 list of writers under 40 with the potential to define trends in African literature. Her YA novels have been nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Carnegie medal. The Cleaner is her worldwide adult debut.