A
GOOD MORNING AMERICA
BOOK CLUB PICK
Named a Best Book Pick of 2021 by
Harper’s Bazaar
and
Real Simple
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
Told from alternating perspectives, this “propulsive, deeply felt tale of race and friendship” (
) follows two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event.
Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. 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.
But 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. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. 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.
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. 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.