416 pages | Trade PaperbackOPRAHS BOOK CLUB 2017 SELECTION. A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dreamthe unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyaltyand Jende is eager to please. Clarks wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers faades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jendes jobeven as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Story Locale:New York, NY; The Hamptons; Cameroon

Publication History:Random House HC (8/16)