A Good Neighborhood A Novel

In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who's headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans—a family with new money and a secretly troubled teenage daughter—raze the house and trees next door to build themselves a showplace. With little in common except a property line, these two families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers. Therese Anne Fowler's novel explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending love in a story that's as provocative as it is powerful, asking big questions about life in America today—what does it mean to be a good neighbor, and how do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye?

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