Leave the World Behind -- Rumaan Alam, Hardcover

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction)

One of Barack Obama's Summer Favorites

A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today * InStyle * The New Yorker * AARP * Publisher's Lunch * LitHub * Book Marks * Electric Literature * Brooklyn Based * The Boston Globe

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.

From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped--and unexpected new ones are forged--in moments of crisis.

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple--it's their house, and they've arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area--with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service--it's hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple--and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

Author: Rumaan Alam
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 10/06/2020
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780062667632
Award: National Book Awards - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/01/2020 pg. 86
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2020
Publishers Weekly 07/13/2020
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2020 pg. 5
Booklist 09/01/2020 pg. 37
Shelf Awareness 10/06/2020