It’s been happening more and more lately, ever since Gigi passed out two weeks ago on her faded corduroy La-Z-Boy, where she faithfully watched Judge Mathis every afternoon. I swear I can even feel her hot breath in my ear. My grandmother’s voice is in my head out of nowhere, her Alabama lilt still honey-thick despite almost a lifetime of living in Philadelphia.

A sharp, timely, and soul-satisfying novel” (Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author) that is both a powerful conversation starter and a celebration of the enduring power of friendship. Like Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, We Are Not Like Them takes “us to uncomfortable places-in the best possible way-while capturing so much of what we are all thinking and feeling about race. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.īut the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. Told from alternating perspectives, this “propulsive, deeply felt tale of race and friendship” ( People) follows two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event. Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall by People, Essence, New York Post, PopSugar, New York Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Town & Country, Bustle, Fortune, and Book Riot Named a Best Book Pick of 2021 by Harper’s Bazaar and Real Simple

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride