For fans of Celeste Ng and Jodi Picoult, a stunning page-turner about two
very different families living side by side in an idyllic neighborhood -
and the summer that changes their lives forever.In Oak Knoll, a verdant,
tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology
Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son. Xavier
is headed to college in the fall, and after years of single parenting,
Valerie is facing the prospect of an empty nest. All is well until the
Whitmans move in next door?an apparently traditional family with new money,
ambition, and a secretly troubled teenaged daughter.Thanks to his thriving
local business, Brad Whitman is something of a celebrity around town, and
he's made a small fortune on his customer service and charm, while his
wife, Julia, escaped her trailer park upbringing for the security of
marriage and homemaking. Their new house is more than she ever imagined for
herself, and who wouldn't want to live in Oak Knoll?But with little in
common except a property line, these two very different families quickly
find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's
yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers.
Told in multiple points of view, A Good Neighborhood asks big questions
about life in America today ? what does it mean to be a good neighbor? How
do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye? ? as it
explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending star-crossed love in
a story that?s as provocative as it is powerful.