A newly married couple move into a flipped foreclosure, unaware that the former homeowners are still living in the attic. A striking and intimate debut about motherhood, loss and the true cost of starting over.
After the housing crash in 2008, Emma and Rachel move into a charming little house in a conservative college town, hoping for a fresh start after a painful miscarriage.
Emma finds herself struggling in the shadow of her wife’s success: tenure-track professor and now bestselling novelist. Desperate to build something of her own, and without Rachel’s knowledge, Emma pursues IVF.
The house becomes a refuge from the town Emma is convinced is set against her – until strange occurrences make her question whether she and Rachel are truly alone.
They aren’t.
Charlotte and Dirk, the former homeowners displaced by the recession, are secretly living above Emma and Rachel’s attached garage.
As Charlotte listens to the interlopers below, her growing resentment pushes her into small acts of defiance, eventually full-blown sabotage.
But when her campaign to drive out the couple goes too far, Charlotte’s and Emma’s stories converge in an explosive climax that will reveal the lengths people will go to reclaim what they’ve lost.
‘Andrea Uptmor’s The New People is a delicate exploration of humanity in all its forms, touching on infertility, addiction, grief, and love with real awareness and pathos’
Loretta Rothschild, bestselling author of Finding Grace
‘This is a book of wonders. At first you wonder how the central situation could possibly have happened, and then you become convinced that it would have happened in exactly that way. With its suspenseful story, the novel tells us about people who live in hiding, and how we live or try to live now, visibly or invisibly. Its characters and their secrets will stay with you long after you turn the last page’
Charles Baxter, author of Blood Test
After the housing crash in 2008, Emma and Rachel move into a charming little house in a conservative college town, hoping for a fresh start after a painful miscarriage.
Emma finds herself struggling in the shadow of her wife’s success: tenure-track professor and now bestselling novelist. Desperate to build something of her own, and without Rachel’s knowledge, Emma pursues IVF.
The house becomes a refuge from the town Emma is convinced is set against her – until strange occurrences make her question whether she and Rachel are truly alone.
They aren’t.
Charlotte and Dirk, the former homeowners displaced by the recession, are secretly living above Emma and Rachel’s attached garage.
As Charlotte listens to the interlopers below, her growing resentment pushes her into small acts of defiance, eventually full-blown sabotage.
But when her campaign to drive out the couple goes too far, Charlotte’s and Emma’s stories converge in an explosive climax that will reveal the lengths people will go to reclaim what they’ve lost.
‘Andrea Uptmor’s The New People is a delicate exploration of humanity in all its forms, touching on infertility, addiction, grief, and love with real awareness and pathos’
Loretta Rothschild, bestselling author of Finding Grace
‘This is a book of wonders. At first you wonder how the central situation could possibly have happened, and then you become convinced that it would have happened in exactly that way. With its suspenseful story, the novel tells us about people who live in hiding, and how we live or try to live now, visibly or invisibly. Its characters and their secrets will stay with you long after you turn the last page’
Charles Baxter, author of Blood Test