The Rich People Have Gone Away

Ordinary New Yorkers are brought together in a story of betrayal, race, what connects us to each other - and what sets us apart.

A Roxane Gay Book Club 2024 Selection

'A marvel... A masterpiece' - Paul Harding

'Prescient and profound' - Bryan Washington

Brooklyn, 2020. Theo Harper and his blonde, blue-eyed, pregnant wife Darla head upstate to their summer cottage to wait out the lockdown. Not everyone in their fancy apartment building has this privilege— not Xavier, the restless teenager in the Cardi B t-shirt, nor Darla's black best friend Ruby and her partner Katsumi, who stay behind to save their restaurant.

During an upstate hike, Theo lets slip a long-held secret about his mixed-up ancestry—and when Darla disappears after the ensuing argument, he suddenly finds himself the prime suspect at the centre of a front-page police search for the perfect missing woman.

'A lush study' - Raven Leilani

'Riveting and original' - Charmaine Wilkerson