For Immediate Release
July 21, 2017
Contact Information

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network:

Morgan Di Stefano

323-602-1734

Morgan_DiStefano@own.tv

O, The Oprah Magazine:

Randi Friedman

212-649-2578

rfriedman@hearst.com

Random House:

Sally Marvin

212-572-2141

smarvin@randomhouse.com

(BPRW) OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB ANNOUNCES NEWEST SELECTION: ‘BEHOLD THE DREAMERS’ BY IMBOLO MBUE

(Black PR Wire) Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY – OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and O, The Oprah Magazine announced the newest Oprah’s Book Club selection, Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.  In this novel, Mbue explores colliding classes, cultures and dreams.  It’s a story of two fathers, a working-class immigrant from Cameroon, hired as a chauffeur in the fall of 2007, right before one of the biggest financial crisis in history, and his lavishly wealthy employer, a top Lehman Brothers executive, and how their families become inextricably linked.

Click here for a message from Oprah (link with embed code): Oprah.com/bookclubvideo

"Fifteen years ago, I walked into a public library and borrowed my first Oprah’s Book Club selection--Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon"-- and was so inspired by it that I began writing without thinking much of where my writing would lead me, never quite imagining that it would someday lead to this humbling privilege,” said Imbolo Mbue.

The cross-platform book club selection kicks off with Oprah’s interview with Imbolo Mbue in the August issue of O, The Oprah Magazine (on newsstands July 11). Oprah.com and Amazon.com will feature video clips from Oprah’s interview with Imbolo Mbue as well as a reading guide.  To start reading a free sample of the Kindle book, customers can visit: Amazon.com/kindle-beholdthedreamers.

Behold the Dreamers is available for purchase on Amazon.com/oprahsbookclub, on Audible and wherever books are sold nationwide.

About Behold the Dreamers

Behold the Dreamers is Imbolo Mbue's compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream. Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future. However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades. When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

About Imbolo Mbue

IMBOLO MBUE is a native of the seaside town of Limbe, Cameroon. She holds a BS from Rutgers University and an MA from Columbia University. A resident of the United States for more than a decade, she lives in New York City.  BEHOLD THE DREAMERS, her critically acclaimed debut novel, won the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was named by The New York Times and The Washington Post as one of their Notable Books of 2016.

About Oprah’s Book Club

In June 2012, Oprah Winfrey reintroduced her popular book club as an interactive, multi-platform reading club that harnesses the power of social media, bringing passionate readers together to discuss inspiring stories. After being selected as the club’s inaugural book, Wild by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf) returned to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list and spent six consecutive weeks at #1. Other selections include The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking), Ruby by Cynthia Bond (Hogarth), The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis (Knopf), Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton and Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.

About OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is the first and only network named for, and inspired by, a single iconic leader. Oprah Winfrey's heart and creative instincts inform the brand – and the magnetism of the channel.  Winfrey provides leadership in original scripted and unscripted programming and attracts superstar talent to join her in primetime, building a global community of like-minded viewers and leading that community to connect on social media and beyond. OWN is a singular destination on cable.  Depth with edge.  Heart. Star power. Connection.  And endless possibilities.  OWN is a joint venture between Harpo, Inc. and Discovery Communications.  The network debuted on January 1, 2011.  The venture also includes the award-winning digital platform Oprah.com.  Access OWN anytime, anywhere on WatchOWN.tv or across mobile devices and connected TVs.  

For more information, please visit www.oprah.com/own and https://press.discovery.com/us/own/

About O, The Oprah Magazine

O, The Oprah Magazine (oprah.com/omagazine) encourages confident, intelligent women to reach for their dreams, express their individual style and make wise choices, guided by the values of one of the most charismatic women in the world, O Editorial Director Oprah Winfrey. With an emphasis on personal growth, the magazine inspires, addressing every aspect of a woman's life – the material, the intellectual and the emotional – and deeply connects with more than 15 million readers every month (MRI, 2011 Doublebase).  From the moment it launched, O, The Oprah Magazinecarved out a unique position in the marketplace and created an entirely new category in women’s magazines, delivering the Live Your Best Life message through thoughtful, ever-evolving content and the trusted advice provided by well-known experts. Throughout the years, O, The Oprah Magazine has been recognized with the publishing industry’s highest honor, winning multiple American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) awards. Follow O, The Oprah Magazine on Twitter @O_Magazine and Instagram at @OprahMagazine.

O, The Oprah Magazine is a co-venture between Harpo Print, LLC and Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst, one of the nation’s largest diversified media and information companies. With 21 titles and 21 digital brands in the U.S., Hearst is the leading publisher of monthly magazines in terms of total paid circulation. Hearst Magazines’ print and digital assets reach more than 128 million readers and site visitors each month – nearly two-thirds of all women and 69 percent of all millennial women in the country. (source: comScore/MRI 9-16/S16).