In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothersâone white, one Blackâliving in a ""perfect"" suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of Americaâs all-too-familiar racial reckoning.
DeâAndrea Whitman, her husband Malik, and their five-year-old daughter, Nina, are new to the upper-crust white suburb of Rolling Hills, Virginiaâa move motivated by circumstance rather than choice. DeâAndrea is heartbroken to leave her comfortable life in the Black oasis of Atlanta, and between her mother-in-lawâs Alzheimer's diagnosis, her daughter starting kindergarten, and the overwhelming whiteness of Rolling Hills, she finds herself struggling to adjust to her new community. To ease the transition, her therapist proposes a challenge: make a white girlfriend.
When Rebecca Myland learns about her new neighbors, the Whitmans, she's thrilled. As chair of the Parent Diversity Committee at her daughtersâ school, sheâs championed racial diversity in the communityâand what could be better than a brand-new Black family? Itâs serendipitous when her daughter, Isabella, and Nina become best friends on the first day of kindergarten. Now, Rebecca can put everything sheâs learned about antiracism into practiceâespecially those oh-so-informative social media posts. And finally, the Parent Diversity Committee will have some⌠well, diversity.
Following her therapistâs suggestion, DeâAndrea reluctantly joins Rebeccaâs committee. The painfully earnest white woman is so overly eager it makes DeâAndrea wonder if Rebeccaâs therapist told her to make a Black friend! But when Rolling Hillâs rising racial sentiments bring the two women together in common cause, they find it isnât the only thing they have in common. . . .