The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

 

I am not sure where I heard about this book, but I am glad that I did!  Really interesting and compelling read! By the way, it's a COVID novel, but a very different one. Description:

A diverse group of New Yorkers are brought together by the search for a missing woman--in this electric novel of secrets, connection, and community.

And from Amazon:

Brooklyn, 2020. Theo Harper and his pregnant wife, Darla, head upstate to their summer cottage to wait out the lockdown. Not everyone in their upscale Park Slope building has this privilege: not Xavier, the teenager in the Cardi B T-shirt, nor Darla’s best friend, Ruby, and her partner, Katsumi, who stay behind to save their Michelin-starred restaurant.

During an upstate hike on the aptly named Devil’s Path, Theo divulges a long-held secret—and when Darla disappears after the ensuing argument, he finds himself the prime suspect. As Darla’s and Theo’s families and friends come together to search for her, with Ruby and Katsumi stepping in to broker peace, past and present collide with startling consequences.

Set against the pulse of an ever-changing city,

The Rich People Have Gone Away connects the lives of ordinary New Yorkers to tell a powerful story of hope, love, and inequity in our times—while reminding us that no one leaves the past behind completely. 

The characters were so diverse and so deep.  I just loved them all and loved the way the author put the story together while giving all the different characters lots of printtime! Sometimes I would feel like Porter was diverging from the main storyline, but I enjoyed that!

The Washington Post wrote an excellent review of this book.  I agree with everything they say and she's now an author I will be watching!