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A Good Neighborhood (Large Print / Library Binding)

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March 2020 Indie Next List


“Therese Anne Fowler’s new novel will have you examining the actions and motivations of everyone you know. Her exquisite storytelling and character development deliver an unforgettable and unpredictable story that touches on many contemporary issues, including race, wealth, control, and status. Be sure to leave yourself some time for this one — once you hit the tipping point, you won’t put it down until you finish.”
— Kari Erpenbach, University Of Minnesota Bookstores, Minneapolis, MN

Description


"Therese Anne Fowler has taken the ingredients of racism, justice, and conservative religion and has concocted a feast of a read: compelling, heartbreaking, and inevitable. I finished A Good Neighborhood in a single sitting. Yes, it's that good." --Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light

A gripping contemporary novel that examines the American dream through the lens of two families living side by side in an idyllic neighborhood, over the course of one summer that changes their lives irrevocably, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z and A Well-Behaved Woman.

In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son. Xavier is headed to college in the fall, and after years of single parenting, Valerie is facing the prospect of an empty nest. All is well until the Whitmans move in next door--an apparently traditional family with new money, ambition, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter.

Thanks to his thriving local business, Brad Whitman is something of a celebrity around town, and he's made a small fortune on his customer service and charm, while his wife, Julia, escaped her trailer park upbringing for the security of marriage and homemaking. Their new house is more than she ever imagined for herself, and who wouldn't want to live in Oak Knoll?

But with little in common except a property line, these two very different families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers. Told in multiple points of view, A Good Neighborhood asks big questions about life in America today -- what does it mean to be a good neighbor? How do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye? -- as it explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending star-crossed love in a story that's as provocative as it is powerful.

Praise for A Good Neighborhood:

"Riveting...Fowler empathetically conjures nuanced characters we won't soon forget, expertly weaves together their stories, and imbues the plot with a sense of inevitability and urgency. In the end, she offers an opportunity for catharsis as well as a heartfelt, hopeful call to action. Traversing topics of love, race, and class, this emotionally complex novel speaks to--and may reverberate beyond--our troubled times."--Kirkus (starred review)

About the Author


THERESE ANNE FOWLER is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald and A Well-Behaved Woman. Raised in the Midwest, she moved to North Carolina in 1995. She holds a BA in sociology/cultural anthropology and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University.

Product Details
ISBN: 9781432872601
ISBN-10: 1432872605
Large Print: Yes
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print
Publication Date: March 10th, 2020
Pages: 513
Language: English