A Haitian ÃĐmigrÃĐâs exposure to shallow suburbanites is âsocial satire at its slyest and bestâ from the New York Timesâbestselling author (Kirkus Reviews).
Â
When the heartbroken Simone flees her native Haiti, her best option to start a new life is a quick paper marriage to a Brooklyn cab driver and a job as an underpaid caregiver to two spoiled young children in the small community of Hudson Landing, New York. But her new boss is nothing like what sheâs been led to expect. The self-absorbed amateur sculptor Rosemary Porter and her morose, eccentric children George and Maisieâdeserted by their philandering husband and fatherârattle aimlessly around their crumbling suburban mansion.
Â
The people of Hudson Landing seem welcoming at first, but as Simone settles into this new home, her sense of unease grows. Rosemaryâs sarcastic best friend, Shelly, seems as suspicious of her as her shallow boyfriend, Kenny, a childrenâs hair salon owner who appears eager to befriend the new au pair. A neighbor known only as âThe Countâ strings dead animals from trees for no reason anyone can understand. As the local community roils with secrets and attempts to outdo each other with self-importance, Simone begins to wonder just where on earth she has fled toâand if itâs any better than the violence and betrayal she left behind.
Â
As always, National Book Award finalist Francine Prose âhas a wickedly sharp ear for pretentious American idiom, and no telling detail escapes her observationâ as Simone struggles to make sense of these odd people and this strange, new world (The New York Times Book Review).
Â