We Are Not Like Them: A Novel

Product Description

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

“[A] propulsive, deeply felt tale of race and friendship.”
—
People

“We Are Not Like Them will stay with you long after you turn the last page.” —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event—a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives.

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.

But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

Like Tayari Jones’s
An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult’s
Small Great Things,
We Are Not Like Them explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world. But at its heart, it’s a story of enduring friendship—a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges.

Amazon.com Review

This timely novel, told from alternating points of view, will be a hit with book clubs. Jen and Riley have been friends since childhood, and although their adult lives are very different, they remain close. Jen is married to a police officer, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. She’s also white, as is her husband. Riley is a successful broadcast journalist who is on the path to becoming one of the first Black female anchors in Philadelphia. Then Jen’s husband is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager, and in a career-making opportunity, Riley covers the story for her station. Jen and Riley’s friendship, which had always felt color blind to Jen, is tested as both deal with the tragedy in very different and very personal ways. Co-written by two authors—one of whom is Black and one of whom is white—
We Are Not Like Them tackles tough issues like race, brutality, and class with unflinching honesty and empathy.
—Sarah Gelman, Amazon Editor

Review

“[A] propulsive, deeply felt tale of race and friendship.”
—
People

“One of the fall’s most anticipated titles, a buzzy novel that’s been making waves in book circles for months.”
—
Entertainment Weekly

”
We Are Not Like Them is a tender and unexpected way into our national debate about policing, by centering an authentically drawn friendship between a black woman and a white woman who find themselves, through no fault of their own, on opposite sides of the emotional fallout of a police shooting. Through the story of this complicated female friendship, the sickness at the center of our current state of policing is laid bare. Beautifully heartfelt, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza’s book finds hope in the friends’ love for one another, that with understanding there may be a way forward.”
—ATTICA LOCKE,
New York Times bestselling author of
Heaven, My Home

”
We are Not Like Them, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza’s gripping novel, is a powerful story about friendship, race, love, forgiveness, and justice—and the stunning ways they intersect. You will find yourself reading late into the night, needing to know what happens to best friends Riley and Jen, and si