A security guard approaches Emira and asks, “Is this your child?” The guard goes on to accuse her of having kidnapped Briar, backed up by a middle-aged woman who says, “I’m a mom. While Alix is making this resolution, Emira is dancing with Briar to Whitney Houston in the grocery store. Ashamed of her previous thoughtlessness, she resolves to “wake the fuck up. “ Oh god … does she know what Peter said?” Alix wonders, as soon as Emira arrives at her house. After explaining that she’s at a club for a friend’s birthday, Emira decides it’s worth the extra money to make the trek. She omits to mention the reason for this request: the Chamberlains’ house has been vandalized after Peter, a news anchor, made a racist comment on air, and they want Briar out of the way while they talk to the police. Soon after Emira begins working for the Chamberlains, Alix calls her late at night with an offer to pay her double if she can come get her daughter Briar and keep her busy at a nearby grocery store. “Huh,” she thinks, when Emira Tucker shows up on her doorstep: Emira is Black. Needing a new babysitter, Alix logs on to and chooses a profile with no picture.

As her career begins to take off, Alix gives in to her husband Peter’s wish to move to Philadelphia, though she pretends on social media that she is still in New York City-the first indication of her intense concern with how she appears to others. She is the only female panelist, and a recording of the event goes viral. Participating in a discussion panel on reproductive care and empowering books for girls, Alix breastfeeds her two-year-old daughter throughout. The business, “LetHer Speak,” promotes female empowerment through letter writing. Alix Chamberlain is a white, older millennial woman with two children living in New York and running a business that she started at the height of the blogger era. The novel opens in 2015, when Hillary Clinton is running for president. Reid has constructed a complex tale of twenty-first-century millennial life that scrutinizes racism in America today. Now, as protests against police violence and institutional racism take place all over the world, ignited by the murders of Black Americans including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, the relevance of this book cannot be overstated. Covering race, class, job insecurity, and gender politics, this book has resonated with a large cross section of readers.

In January, Such a Fun Age was the featured title for Reese Witherspoon’s monthly book club. Kiley Reid’s debut novel made a splash before being released, with advance praise coming from sources as varied as Jojo Moyes and Lena Waithe, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times.

Such fun age