The New People - Andrea Uptmor

Hardcover

Publisher Marketing:
A searing and strikingly intimate debut set in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, about a newly married lesbian couple who move into a flipped foreclosure, unaware that the former homeowners are still living in the attic.

Months after the housing bubble bursts, newlywed Chicagoans Emma and Rachel move into a charming little house in a conservative Indiana college town, hoping for a fresh start after a painful miscarriage. As Rachel immerses herself in her new role as a tenure-track professor and bestselling novelist, adjunct Emma struggles in the shadow of her wife's success. Desperate to build something of her own, Emma secretly pursues IVF, even as Rachel insists they wait to have children. The house, initially a symbol of new beginnings, becomes a refuge for Emma from the town she's convinced is set against her--until strange occurrences make her question whether she and her wife are truly alone.

They aren't.

Charlotte and Dirk, the former homeowners, are secretly living in the attic above Emma and Rachel's attached garage. Dispossessed by the recession and anxious about her husband's declining health, Charlotte listens to the interlopers below, and her resentment steadily grows. What starts as small acts of defiance--missing food, flipped breakers in the fuse box, subtle scratches in the furniture--soon becomes sabotage. But when her campaign to drive out the couple goes too far, Charlotte's and Emma's stories converge in an explosive climax that will reveal the lengths people will go to reclaim what they've lost.

Review Quotes:
"Uptmor moves through examinations of privilege and identity, extraction and gentrification, politics and parenthood, holding it all with a delicate sense of emotion....With a sharp sense of humor and wry insights into the many ways the myth of the American Dream leaves victims in its wake. The New People is a carefully crafted story of what makes a house a home: the people that share it, to be sure, but also the community built (or not) around it and the many marks left, both good and bad, on the spaces inhabited." -- Shelf Awareness (starred)

Review Quotes:
"This is a book of wonders...With its suspenseful story, the novel tells us about people who live in hiding, and how we live or try to live now, visibly or invisibly. Its characters and their secrets will stay with you long after you turn the last page."-- Charles Baxter, author of Blood Test

Biographical Note:
Andrea Uptmor received her MFA in fiction at the University of Minnesota, and her short fiction has been published in McSweeney's, PANK, and The Masters Review, among others. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.


Review Quotes:
"Fascinating, highly original...As impressive as Uptmor's authorial daring with plot and characters is her rich setting, deploying all the details of life as we knew it in the year 2008....All of these and more are woven into the plot in a way that makes the system the villain rather than any one of the flawed and desperate characters. All in all, Uptmor has pulled off quite a coup in a debut novel. In a word: sold." -- The Boston Globe

Review Quotes:
"At a time when everything is uncertain and nothing feels stable, The New People shows that the power of change lies not in what happens to you, but in how you respond to it. Through Uptmor's ability to develop a unique plot with heartfelt characters, we see how we are all dealing with change that seems to turn our world upside down, and it's not until we connect with others that we can put our lives into perspective." -- Chicago Review of Books

Review Quotes:
"Uptmor's ambitious first novel renders the dangers of divisiveness, rigidity, and lack of communication through the experience of two married couples who could not be less alike...Moments of high comedy and real pathos ensue...Using upbeat escapism, Uptmor confounds expectations to expose the darker realities of American life."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Review Quotes:
"The heart of this book is about marriage: what it is, what it has been, and what it can be....Uptmor skillfully weaves Charlotte and Emma's perspectives to both mirror and conflict with each other. [I] Recommend this debut to anyone interested in the micro-interactions that can make or break a relationship."-- Booklist (starred review)

Review Quotes:
"Uptmor explores what happens to a couple incapable of communicating as they try to keep their heads above water financially. It's sincere and doesn't shy away from the painful, intimate moments and leans into the absurdity that can unfold when people go from happy to miserable."-- Debutiful

Review Quotes:
"Assured...Uptmor offers perceptive insights into the women's feelings of inadequacy and exclusion. This weighty novel will move readers."-- Publishers Weekly

Review Quotes:
" The New People is a riveting story of precarity and privilege, told with great tenderness and imagination by a master storyteller. I loved reading about the intertwined lives of these two couples as they struggle to find sources of love and resilience in a world shifting beneath their feet. Andrea Uptmor has written the novel of the affordability crisis. A timely, propulsive, and big-hearted debut."-- Bruce Holsinger, author of The Gifted School and Culpability (Oprah's Book Club)

Review Quotes:
"Andrea Uptmor's The New People is a delicate exploration of humanity in all its forms, touching on infertility, addiction, grief, and love with real awareness and pathos."-- Loretta Rothschild, bestselling author of Finding Grace

Review Quotes:
"Andrea Uptmor's The New People is centered on two of the most pressing questions we face as human beings: where and with whom do we feel at home? A deeply tender, spirit-lifting portrait of what happens when we lose the things we think define us and discover that we are made of oh so much more."-- Heather Aimee O'Neill, author of The Irish Goodbye

Review Citations:

• Publishers Weekly 05/25/2026 (EAN 9780316602211, Hardcover)
• Booklist 06/01/2026 (EAN 9780316602211, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Shelf Awareness 12/30/0001 (EAN 9780316602211, Hardcover)
• Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2026 (EAN 9780316602211, Hardcover) - *Starred Review