Bookn' with Friends: "Behold the Dreamers" by Imbolo Mbue

WPL's adult book club, Bookn' with Friends, will gather on Monday, October 27 at 6:30pm for a discussion of Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. Selected for the 2025 Reading Challenge topic "an immigrant experience," Behold the Dreamers is 400 pages, has a 3.95 rating on Goodreads, and was an Oprah's book club selection when it was first published in 2016.

From the publisher:

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' facades.

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.