A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage immigration class race and the trapdoors in the American Dream--the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times Bestseller - Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award - Longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award - An ALA Notable Book NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR - The New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - The Guardian - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Chicago Public Library - BookPage - Refinery29 - Kirkus Reviews Jende Jonga a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself his wife Neni and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007 Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality discretion and loyalty--and Jende is eager to please. Clark s wife Cindy even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future. However the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers façades. When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende s job--even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice. Praise for Behold the Dreamers A debut novel by a young woman from Cameroon that illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tenderhearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse . . . Mbue is a bright and captivating storyteller. --The Washington Post A capacious big-hearted novel. --The New York Times Book Review Behold the Dreamers heart . . . belongs to the struggles and small triumphs of the Jongas which Mbue traces in clean quick-moving paragraphs. --Entertainment Weekly Mbue s writing is warm and captivating. --People (book of the week) [Mbue s] book isn t the first work of fiction to grapple with the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 but it s surely one of the best. . . . It s a novel that depicts a country both blessed and doomed on top of the world but always at risk of losing its balance. It is in other words quintessentially American. --NPR This story is one that needs to be told. --Bust Behold the Dreamers challenges us all to consider what it takes to make us genuinely content and how long is too long to live with our dreams deferred. --O: The Oprah Magazine [A] beautiful empathetic novel. --The Boston Globe A witty compassionate swiftly paced novel that takes on race immigration family and the dangers of capitalist excess. --St. Louis Post-Dispatch Mbue [is] a deft often lyrical observer. . . . [Her] meticulous storytelling announces a writer in command of her gifts. --Minneapolis Star Tribune