Entitlement
The exhilarating new novel from the author of Leave the World Behind
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- $28.99
Publisher Description
The exhilarating new novel from the author of Leave the World Behind – 'the book of an era' (Independent)
'Expertly observed' GUARDIAN
'A slow-burn tale of connivance and deceit with a knockout ending' OBSERVER
'An engrossing exploration of the pitfalls of privilege and philanthropy' SPECTATOR
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?
Taut, unsettling, and alive to the seductive distortions of money, Entitlement is a biting tale for our new gilded age.
*A GUARDIAN HIGHLIGHT FOR 2024*
Praise for Leave the World Behind
'Alam is a worthy descendant of Don DeLillo' SUNDAY TIMES
'A book that could have been tailor-made for our times' THE TIMES
'Intense, incisive, I loved this' DAVID NICHOLLS
'I was hooked from the opening pages' CLARE MACKINTOSH
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this commanding follow-up to his acclaimed 2020 novel, Leave the World Behind, American writer Rumaan Alam turns his attention to the devastating and mind-moulding influence of money. It’s a “strange, sultry summer” in New York and 33-year-old Brooke Orr has taken a job at a charitable foundation whose purpose is to give away the fortune of businessman Asher Jaffee. Meeting Asher in person causes the ground beneath Brooke to shift, and as she turns inward to examine her specialness, her position in the world, and her otherness as a Black woman working for a shockingly rich white man, she’s confronted by her desires, her demands and her values. The world of Entitlement is a small one, and as the atmosphere of unease intensifies, possession, power and principle collide in a dramatic and spellbinding conclusion. Through his masterful narrative control and searing insight into human behaviour, Alam manages to confound reader expectations at nearly every turn.
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.
