Reid's debut novel opens late at night in an upscale Philadelphia grocery store, where Emira Tucker, a twenty-five-year-old Black babysitter, is accused by a security guard of kidnapping Briar, the white toddler in her care, while a bystander films the confrontation. Emira wants the incident forgotten; her employer, Alix Chamberlain — a blogger turned confidence-brand entrepreneur — wants to make it right, and her determination to befriend, help and hold on to Emira grows into an intrusive obsession. Meanwhile Emira, about to age off her parents' health insurance and unsure what adulthood should look like, begins dating Kelley, the man who filmed the store scene, only to discover that Kelley and Alix share a charged history from her adolescence, leaving Emira trapped between two white people each claiming to act for her. Told in alternating perspectives with sharp, funny dialogue, the novel examines transactional relationships, performed allyship and the work of care, and asks what it means to do the right thing for the wrong reason. It was a Reese's Book Club pick and was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Author: Kiley Reid · Original publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York), 2019
