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' façades. 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
command of her gifts.-Minneapolis Star Tribune