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.
Jende's job draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the city's financial elite. And when Clark's 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 Jonga's 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.
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.
Jende's job draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the city's financial elite. And when Clark's 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 Jonga's 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.
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