Rumaan Alam is the author of Rich and Pretty, and That Kind of Mother. His writing has appeared in various publications including The New York Times, Elle, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, The Rumpus, and Buzzfeed. Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation. It would mean 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. Then a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. The older couple who own the house arrive in a panic. A sudden blackout has swept the city — but with no TV, internet or phone service t’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? And are they safe from one other? In Leave the World Behind (Ecco) Rumaan Alam is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class and explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis. In a starred review Publishers Weekly called it “Spectacular and ominous…. This illuminating social novel offers piercing commentary on race, class and the luxurious mirage of safety, adding up to an all-too-plausible apocalyptic vision.”
