With her debut novel, The Other Americans, Navidad Thélamour paints a portrait of one powerful family and those who orbit around it, and in doing so creates a dramatic, almost soap opera-esque story I couldn't get enough of. But until now, I've never read a book that explores those concepts within the African-American community.

I've read a lot of books that explore the dynamics between the haves and the have-nots, and the machinations that those in power use to attempt to stay there. We all end up in the same circles and stay there.'

'That's how socioeconomic stratification works, you know. What unfolds is a stunning portrait of the heart and core of an American family in a story that is as page-turning as it is significant. As the characters-deeply divided by class lines and caste systems-collide, often unbeknownst to each of them, their lives weave together and touch each other poignantly as they discover the way that sisterhood can pull us back from the brink of self-destruction…or push us to it.

The impact of the power shift shakes up the lives of: Vincent’s wife, Delaney, a would-be social worker who unwittingly gave up her chance at a career for a ritzy marriage she never really wanted her best friend, Aaliyah, who still believes in the American Dream, even though her trials with corporate climbing make it more and more difficult to put faith in Nigel, a former classmate of Vincent’s tries to resist the unrelenting pull the extravagant world they live in has on his life and Jillian, the abdicated social princess of the family who has a little problem with razor blades and haunting memories from her past.Ĭutting deep into the fabric of family ties and the scars of their upbringings, the Dessommes family is forced to confront its long-hidden dark history as they learn what happens when class lines clash inside of a crucible of decades-old allegiances and secrets-and of how far we’ll go to harm ourselves…and others. The Dessommes family has had their share of troubles-as rival siblings Vincent and Jillian can attest-but as Vincent prepares to step into his birthright as CEO of The Dessommes Group, the repercussions of this looming shift in power and an unresolved childhood secret risk shattering the careful façade the family has erected to maintain their power…and their denial. DuBois’ “Talented Tenth” and the abuse suffered at the hands of the privileged and their ambitions. Set in the contemporary South amongst an affluent and storied African-American clan, The Other Americans is a timely and powerful family saga about W.E.B.

The Other Americans by Felice Laverne