Award-Winning Books of 2017

Imbolo Mbue's debut novel, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (and, yes, an Oprah's Book Club selection) is a powerful study of how two distinct cultures clash and combine. Set in 2008, as Sen. Barack Obama begins his ascent to the presidency and the American housing economy is on the brink of collapse, the novel follows two families, both on shaky ground. Husband and wife Jende and Neni have immigrated to New York from Cameroon hoping for a better life, and Jende's job as a driver for Clark, an executive at Lehman Brothers, seems sure to provide it. But Jende's legal status is uncertain, and Lehman falls apart by the year's end. By focusing on Jende and Neni, Mbue captures the hopefulness felt by new arrivals to America, as well as the condescension and confusion that clouds their lives—and smartly reveals what binds families together once money is removed from the equation. As Oprah put it, "Underneath it all, pumps the heart and soul of family love, the pursuit of happiness, and what home really means."