Contemporary fiction
Good People
Debut
by Patmeena Sabit
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Quick take
When an immigrant family faces a tragedy, shockwaves ripple in a community. How does neighborly gossip warp the truth?
Good to know
Multiple viewpoints
Slow build
Suburban drama
Immigration
Synopsis
The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye.
When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling and the family is thrust into the court of public opinion. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?
Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, it is a riveting, provocative, and haunting story of family—sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.
Read a sample
Get an early look from the first pages of Good People.
Why we chose it...
This book’s kaleidoscopic narrative is expertly crafted and presents the story from many different angles—it’s a structure unlike anything we’d read before.
We’ve all experienced how gossip can shape reality. This story deftly explores how outside narratives and misinformation can quietly shift rumors into truth.
Reading this novel is like listening to the best kind of oral history—its many characters’ voices come to life in a way that made us feel like we already knew them.
Contemporary fiction
Contemporary fiction