Behold the Dreamers: An Oprahs Book Club pick

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WINNER OF THE 2017 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR

A formidable storyteller Jonathan Franzen

Savage and compassionate in all the right places New York Times Book Review
New York, 2007: a city of dreamers, all jostling for a place on the ladder of success. Jende Jonga, newly arrived from Cameroon, has just set his foot on the first rung. He is chauffeur to Clark Edwards, a senior partner at Lehman Brothers a man too preoccupied to check the paperwork of his latest employee.

Jendes job draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the citys financial elite. And when Clarks wife Cindy offers Neni work and takes her into her confidence, the couple begin to believe that the land of opportunity might finally be opening up for them.

But there are troubling cracks in their employers facades, and when the deep fault lines running beneath the financial world are exposed, the Edwards secrets threaten to spill out into the Jongas lives.

Faced with the loss of all they have worked for, each couple must decide how far they will go in pursuit of their dreams and what they are prepared to sacrifice along the way.

Reviews

There are no heroes in this marvellous debut, only nuanced human beings. A classic tale with a surprise ending, as deeply insightful as it is delightfully entertaining Taiye Selasi

As a dissection of the American Dream, Imbolo Mbues first novel is savage and compassionate in all the right places New York Times

Theres an innovative focus to this warm-hearted and timely debut. Cleverly created by fielding more than once class of New York dreamer The Sunday Times

Mbue crafts a satire of unusual subtlety. Observer

The cultural and racial observations are fresh, interesting and never laboured Irish Times

There are a lot of spinning plates and Mbue balances them skilfully, keeping everything in motion. Even more impressive is the vitality that gleams through the film of gloom as the story becomes less about the Jonga family from day to day than about their efforts to make peace with their fate, whatever and wherever that might be Scotland on Sunday

A debut novel that illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tender-hearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse . . . Mbue is a bright and captivating storyteller Washington Post

Mbue writes with great confidence and warmth . . . A capacious, big-hearted novel New York Times Book Review

Author Bio

Imbolo Mbue is a native of Limbe, Cameroon. She holds a BS from Rutgers University and an MA from Columbia University. A resident of the United States for more than a decade, she lives in New York City. This is her first novel.