Leave the World Behind

Leave the World Behind

Author:
Series: Horror for Wimps
ASIN: B083JKGK15

My exact words to my husband Will: This book is WILD. Similar to his last book That Kind of Mother, this new novel features two families whose lives suddenly become intertwined. Amanda and Clay splurge and rent a house on Long Island for a getaway; they couldn’t be happier to spend time with their teen son and daughter away from the city. But late one night, a knock on the door interrupts their pleasant getaway. Ruth and G.H., an older Black couple, own the Long Island house, and beg their short-term tenants to let them crash in the basement. There’s a blackout in the city—not the first they’ve experienced, but this one feels more threatening, somehow—and they’ve come to seek shelter at the safest place they can think of: their second home. Each couple grapples with whether or not to trust the other, while questioning what is happening in the city, whether they are safe here, and what to do next. Psst—they’re not safe, and no one knows what to do. I’d give this an eight-line edit if I could.

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About the Book

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction)

A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * TimeNPR * 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?

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