The Rich People Have Gone Away

A Novel

By: Regina Porter

Narrated by: William DeMeritt, Shayna Small

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

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.

“Affecting, astounding, and wholly humbling.”—Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal

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.

©2024 Regina Porter (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Regina Porter weaves beauty and humor with pathos, in prose that is winding, prescient, and profound. She shows us worlds inside of worlds—of queerness, of love and relationships, of who we are and who we’re told to be—crafting a narrative that is both precise and thunderous. The Rich People Have Gone Away moves and transcends. We’re so lucky to have it.”—Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal

“A masterpiece of human portraiture that simultaneously renders quintessential depictions of the city, of America, and of the whole world in these first fraught decades of the twenty-first century.”—Paul Harding, author of This Other Eden

“With its exquisitely drawn characters, scenes that jump off the page, and international locales that’ll make you want to pack a bag and go, The Rich People Have Gone Away is a novel that fearlessly defies conventions. Regina Porter has crafted an inventive, hilarious, and wholly unpredictable work full of vibrant prose and genuine tenderness.”—Mateo Askaripour, author of Black Buck