November 1- Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam; facilitator: Liz Miller-Boose

Leave the World Behind

“An exceptional read that will stay with you long after you’ve sped through its final pages.” -- USA Today

“It is the rarest of books: a genuine thriller, a brilliant distillation of our anxious age, and a work of high literary merit that deserves a place among the classics of dystopian literature." -- Washington Post

2020 National Book Award Finalist

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

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 children, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. The spell is broken when the owners of the house appear late at night with 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.

From the bestselling author Rumaan Alam 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.