Behold the Dreamers: A Novel

Fiction. Literature. HTML:A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream�the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times Bestseller � Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award � Longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award � An ALA Notable Book NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  NPR � The New York Times Book Review � San Francisco Chronicle � The Guardian � St. Louis Post-Dispatch � Chicago Public Library � BookPage � Refinery29 � Kirkus Reviews  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 loyalty�and Jende is eager to please. Clark�s 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� fa�ades. When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende�s job�even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice. Praise for Behold the Dreamers �A debut novel by a young woman from Cameroon that illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tenderhearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse . . . Mbue is a bright and captivating storyteller.��The Washington Post �A capacious, big-hearted novel.��The New York Times Book Review �Behold the Dreamers� heart . . . belongs to the struggles and small triumphs of the Jongas, which Mbue traces in clean, quick-moving paragraphs.��Entertainment Weekly �Mbue�s writing is warm and captivating.��People (book of the week) �[Mbue�s] book isn�t the first work of fiction to grapple with the global financial crisis of 2007�2008, but it�s surely one of the best. . . . It�s a novel that depicts a country both blessed and doomed, on top of the world, but always at risk of losing its balance. It is, in other words, quintessentially American.��NPR �This story is one that needs to be told.��Bust  �Behold the Dreamers challenges us all to consider what it takes to make us genuinely content, and how long is too long to live with our dreams deferred.��O: The Oprah Magazine �[A] beautiful, empathetic novel.��The Boston Globe �A witty, compassionate, swiftly paced novel that takes on race, immigration, family and the dangers of capitalist excess.��St. Louis Post-Dispatch �Mbue [is] a deft, often lyrical observer. . . . [Her] meticulous storytelling announces a writer in...… (more)