A sparkling, intensely readable debut novel about a small town’s gentrification, the politics involved in a congressional election, and families on the brink. There are many families who have always lived in the tight knit community, but recently the “duffels” have descended on the town with their money. Typically gentrification stories are about white people flush with cash coming into a poor community populated by people of color who soon find themselves unable to afford the communities they are from…. Harlem, Hawaii… but in this case, it is the “fancy gays” from the big city who come with a duffel bag for the weekend who decide to buy a second home or relocate to the small town to make their dollar more powerful.
And hence comes the push and pull…. the bigoted folks, the hard workers, the closeted, the farmers, those who would take advantage, those caught in the opiod crisis….and all in all, the capitalists. There are no “white hats” vs. “black hats” in this story- no one is the evil villain. The book challenges the way we see the world today, the polarization of literally everything. It zooms in on the families of Chip and Paul who are running for congress- one a townie, one a duffel, one straight and one gay, one salt of the earth and the other born to a certain privilege. The scope of this novel is extremely ambitious, there are a lot of characters introduced quickly. It is shining a light on issues in a broader way. It is a character driven novel, rather than a twisty plot.
That said, there are so many layers to uncover- each person is always a little more nuanced and each person is a bit more complicated than they seem. There is a heavy handed lesson in that for all of us.
A high recommendation from me on this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Book to be published November 4, 2025. Election Day.
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