Strangers at the Feast
On Thanksgiving Day 2007, as the country teeters on the brink of a recession, three
generations of the Olson family gather. Eleanor and Gavin worry about their daughter, a
single academic, and her newly adopted Indian child, and about their son, who has
been caught in the imploding real-estate bubble. While the Olsons navigate the
tensions and secrets that mark their relationships, seventeen-year-old Kijo Jackson
and his best friend Spider set out from the nearby housing projects on a mysterious job.
A series of tragic events bring these two worlds ever closer, exposing the dangerously
thin line between suburban privilege and urban poverty, and culminating in a crime that
will change everyone’s life.
Jennifer Vanderbes masterfully lays bare the fraught lives of this complex cast of
characters and the lengths to which they will go to protect their families. Strangers at the
Feast is at once a heartbreaking portrait of a family struggling to find happiness and an
exploration of the hidden costs of the American dream.
Published to international acclaim, Jennifer Vanderbes’s first book, Easter Island, was
hailed as “one of those rare novels that appeals equally to heart, mind, and soul,” by the
San Francisco Chronicle. In her second novel, this powerful writer reaches new heights
of storytelling. This page-turner wrestles with the most important issues of our time—
race, class, and above all else, family. Strangers at the Feast will leave readers haunted
and deeply affected.
"Family conflict, fascinating social commentary, and a riveting plot converge in
Jennifer Vanderbes' stunning STRANGERS AT THE FEAST, a thriller that also raises
large and haunting questions about the meaning of guilt, innocence, and justice."
-O, The Oprah Magazine (read the full review)
