Entitlement
The exhilarating new novel from the author of Leave the World Behind
-
-
3.2 • 5 Ratings
-
-
- £10.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of Leave the World Behind – 'the book of an era' (Independent) – a biting tale for our new gilded age
'A slow-burn tale of connivance and deceit with a knockout ending' OBSERVER
Money talks. But what if it lies?
An ambitious young Black woman, plotting her way into the world of the one percent. An old white billionaire, facing his own extinction.
He's attracted to her intelligence, her refusal to be deferential, maybe also her Blackness. She's drawn to his power and money – and his apparent willingness to share both with her.
But how far is each prepared to go to get what they think they deserve?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Rumaan Alam created significant noise with the spectacular Leave the World Behind and this book should spark similar reverberations. Its two leads are both spectacularly memorable: Brooke Orr, is an ultra-motivated Black woman on a quest to crash the one per cent in New York, while Asher Jaffee is the 83-year-old billionaire clinging onto his power and status despite the world changing at breakneck pace. Orr and Jaffee come together almost despite themselves, and it’s the complexities of an insidious relationship that could turn beneficial or destructive at a moment’s notice that kept us on the edge of our seats.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alam (Leave the World Behind) delivers an unsettling novel about a 30-something middle-class Black New Yorker unmoored by her billionaire boss's wealth and power. After spending nine years teaching at a Bronx charter school, Brooke Orr hopes to fulfill her passion for arts education by taking an administrative job at a foundation set up by businessman Asher Jaffee, 83, to disperse his fortune. Brooke impresses Asher with her dedication, and he tasks her with finding a group to fund, prompting Brooke to convince the skeptical director of a Brooklyn children's dance company to accept an award in the event that Asher deems the company worthy of a grant. The more Brooke puts into her job, the less connected she is to her old life, to the point that she feels nothing after hearing a close family friend has died in a car accident. As Brooke spends more time with Asher, she becomes convinced she's "entitled" to her own "place in the world," a reasonable belief that grows warped as she fixates on the Manhattan apartment she's trying to buy but can't afford. As she progresses on her quest to get what she deserves, the slow-burn narrative builds to a strange and provocative crisis point. Readers will want to stick around for Brooke's reckoning.
