Michael Donkor has said that the inspiration for this debut novel came from the housemaids who cooked, cleaned and waited on him on childhood trips to his extended family in Ghana. These women were ubiquitous but always silent.

In Hold, he gives them a voice through Belinda, a 17-year-old domestic servant who is sent from a well-heeled Ghanaian household in Kumasi to look after Amma, a troubled teenager who lives with her Ghanaian-born parents in Clapham, south London. Belinda leaves behind a younger housemaid, Mary, a mischievous and lovable character whom she has come to see as a younger sister.

The novel does not address issues around domestic servitude head-on, although we are shown the emotional fallout of Belinda’s forced displacement from a household, and a continent. She accepts her move uncomplainingly, but however kindly she is treated by the Otuo family in London – they do not want her to cook or clean, and encourage her to concentrate on her education – their self-serving decision to uproot her, purely to be a pet maid to the seemingly spoilt Amma, creates an underlying unease.

While this remains an undercurrent in the novel, it is female sexuality that is at the fore. Donkor, who came out to his family in his 20s, has said it is “kind of un-Ghanaian” to be openly gay, and here, Amma’s story illuminates the cultural taboos around homosexuality, while Belinda’s character reveals both her own secret shame and hostile judgment of Amma.

The focus is on the love that flows between women and the need for Belinda to find a place that feels like home

Donkor, who was chosen earlier this year as one of the Observer’s best debut novelists of 2018, also puts female friendship at the book’s core. Belinda’s camaraderie with Mary is beautifully depicted, right up to its tragic end. Although Belinda is Amma’s age, the cultural difference poses a seemingly unbridgeable divide (when Amma listens to Radiohead, for example), yet they come to learn from each other and connect. Belinda also bonds with Amma’s mother, Nana, through their shared memories of Ghana, despite their generational and class differences.

Donkor works as a teacher and it takes a certain courage for a London-born, male author to write from the points of view of girls and women from Ghana. It pays off and he inhabits their heads and hearts convincingly. He is particularly good at shining a light on the loneliness in Belinda’s life and the psychological games she plays to navigate her unsettled sense of self. Belinda does not have the luxury of a fixed identity – she must adapt herself to every new household, so she makes herself as amenable as she can to the initially stony Amma, using different tactics and personas to appeal to her.

She advises Mary to do the same when the girl complains about the drudgery of her domestic chores. Belinda encourages her to create an alter ego who loves the work, to give her a name and imagine herself in this woman’s skin. “Even imagine you are the type that enjoys it all,” she says. Identity and transformation here is about forbearance and learning to adopt a role that threatens to belittle and undermine a sense of self.

At times, there are flashes of Jane Eyre in Belinda’s role as a “governess” of sorts, but there is no Mr Rochester to save her from her life, nor a sugary ending. The focus is on the love that flows between women and the need for Belinda to find a place that feels like home.

Amma, at one point, reflects on the lives around her and thinks that there are “all these black women mired in different kinds of shit”. Their lives are hard, yet a profound sense of hope resonates from within Donkor’s warm and accomplished novel.

• Hold by Michael Donkor is published by 4th Estate (£12.99). To order a copy for £9.99 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99