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The New People

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What to expect

A newly married couple move into a flipped foreclosure, unaware that the former homeowners are still living in the attic. A striking and intimate debut about motherhood, loss and the true cost of starting over.

After the housing crash in 2008, Emma and Rachel move into a charming little house in a conservative college town, hoping for a fresh start after a painful miscarriage.

Emma finds herself struggling in the shadow of her wife's success: tenure-track professor and now bestselling novelist. Desperate to build something of her own, and without Rachel's knowledge, Emma pursues IVF.

The house becomes a refuge from the town Emma is convinced is set against her - until strange occurrences make her question whether she and Rachel are truly alone.

They aren't.

Charlotte and Dirk, the former homeowners displaced by the recession, are secretly living above Emma and Rachel's attached garage.

As Charlotte listens to the interlopers below, her growing resentment pushes her into small acts of defiance, eventually full-blown sabotage.

But when her campaign to drive out the couple goes too far, Charlotte's and Emma's stories converge in an explosive climax that will reveal the lengths people will go to reclaim what they've lost.

'Andrea Uptmor's The New People is a delicate exploration of humanity in all its forms, touching on infertility, addiction, grief, and love with real awareness and pathos'
Loretta Rothschild, bestselling author of Finding Grace

'This is a book of wonders. At first you wonder how the central situation could possibly have happened, and then you become convinced that it would have happened in exactly that way. With its suspenseful story, the novel tells us about people who live in hiding, and how we live or try to live now, visibly or invisibly. Its characters and their secrets will stay with you long after you turn the last page'
Charles Baxter, author of Blood Test

Critics Review

The New People is a riveting story of precarity and privilege, told with great tenderness and imagination by a master storyteller. I loved reading about the intertwined lives of these two couples as they struggle to find sources of love and resilience in a world shifting beneath their feet. Andrea Uptmor has written the novel of the affordability crisis. A timely, propulsive, and big-hearted debut
Bruce Holsinger, author of Culpability
Although this page-turner's premise revolves around a unique living situation, the heart of this book is about marriage: what it is, what it has been, and what it can be . . . Uptmor skillfully weaves Charlotte and Emma's perspectives to both mirror and conflict with each other. Recommend this debut to anyone interested in the micro-interactions that can make or break a relationship
Booklist (starred review)
Uptmor's assured debut takes on the real estate woes of the Great Recession and the hurdles faced by a nontraditional family in a conservative town. In Emma's and Charlotte's alternating story lines, Uptmor offers perceptive insights into the women's feelings of inadequacy and exclusion. This weighty novel will move readers
Publishers Weekly
Andrea Uptmor's The New People is a delicate exploration of humanity in all its forms, touching on infertility, addiction, grief, and love with real awareness and pathos
Loretta Rothschild, bestselling author of Finding Grace
This is a book of wonders...With its suspenseful story, the novel tells us about people who live in hiding, and how we live or try to live now, visibly or invisibly. Its characters and their secrets will stay with you long after you turn the last page
Charles Baxter, author of Blood Test
Andrea Uptmor's The New People is centered on two of the most pressing questions we face as human beings: where and with whom do we feel at home? A deeply tender, spirit-lifting portrait of what happens when we lose the things we think define us and discover that we are made of oh so much more
Heather Aimee O’Neill, author of The Irish Goodbye
Author Andrea Uptmor
Duration 10 hours
Release Date
ISBN 9781399760423
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Genre Contemporary romance, Romance
Availability AU, GB, IE

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