No One Is Coming to Save Us

*THE INAUGURAL SARAH JESSICA PARKER PICK FOR BOOK CLUB CENTRAL*CHOSEN AS A 2017 BEST SUMMER READ PICK BYThe Wall Street Journal The Washington Post The Seattle TimesNAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2017 BY Entertainment Weekly Nylon Elle Redbook W Magazine The Chicago Review of Books JJ Ferguson has returned home to Pinewood, North Carolina, to build his dream house and to pursue his high school sweetheart, Ava. But as he reenters his former world, where factories are in decline and the legacy of Jim Crow is still felt, hes startled to find that the people he once knew and loved have changed just as much as he has. Ava is now married and desperate for a baby, though she cant seem to carry one to term. Her husband, Henry, has grown distant, frustrated by the demise of the furniture industry, which has outsourced to China and stripped the area of jobs. Avas mother, Sylvia, caters to and meddles with the lives of those around her, trying to fill the void left by her absent son. And Don, Sylvias unworthy but charming husband, just wont stop hanging around. JJs returnand his plans to build a huge mansion overlooking Pinewood and woo Avanot only unsettles their family, but stirs up the entire town. The ostentatious wealth that JJ has attained forces everyone to consider the cards theyve been dealt, what more they want and deserve, and how they might go about getting it. Can they reorient their lives to align with their wishes rather than their current realities? Or are they all already resigned to the rhythms of the particular lives they lead? No One Is Coming to Save Us is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice: with echoes of The Great Gatsby it is an arresting and powerful novel about an extended African American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream. In evocative prose, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted a full and stunning portrait that combines a universally resonant story with an intimate glimpse into the hearts of one family.