Behold the Dreamers
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: June 13, 2017 5:49 PM | Last Updated: June 13, 2017
Imbolo Mbue
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty — and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at their summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.
However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers' facades.
Then the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Desperate to keep Jende's job, the Jongas try to protect the Edwardses from certain truths, even as their own marriage threatens to fall apart. (From Penguin Random House Canada)
From the book
You think I don't want to remain in America, too? You think I came to America so that I can leave? I work as a servant to people, driving them all over, the whole day, sometimes the whole week, answering yes sir, yes madam, bowing down even to a little child. For what, Neni? What pride are you talking about? I lower myself more than many men would ever lower themselves. What do you think I do it for? For you, for me. Because I want us to say in America! But if America says they don't want us in their country, you think I'm going to keep on begging them for the rest of my life?...Never. Not for one day...
From Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue ©2016. Published by Penguin Random House Canada.