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by Christina McDowell
This "delicious take on the one percent in our nation's capital" (Town & Country) and clever combination of The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Nest explores what Washington, DC's high society members do behind the closed doors of their stately homes.
They are the families considered worthy of a listing in the exclusive Green Book—a discriminative diary created by the niece of Edith Roosevelt's social secretary. Their aristocratic bloodlines are woven into the very fabric of Washington—generation after generation. Their old money and manner lurk through the cobblestone streets of Georgetown, Kalorama, and Capitol Hill. They only socialize within their inner circle, turning a blind eye to those who come and go on the political merry-go-round. These parents and their children live in gilded existences of power and privilege.
But what they have failed to understand is that the world is changing. And when the family of one of their own is held hostage and brutally murdered, everything about their legacy is called into question in this unputdownable novel that "combines social satire with moral outrage to offer a masterfully crafted, absorbing read that can simply entertain on one level and provoke reasoned discourse on another" (Booklist, starred review).
"Through blunt caricatures and sharp characterizations, McDowell...combines social satire with moral outrage to offer a masterfully crafted, absorbing read that can simply entertain on one level and provoke reasoned discourse on another." —Booklist (starred review)
"McDowell's mordant debut novel sends up the Washington, D.C., establishment... the drama is thick ... the satire cuts deep." —Publishers Weekly
"Racism, misogyny, and class hierarchy are all fair game, and the irony is inescapable and delicious... . A fascinating, gossipy glimpse into the lives of the one percent (with footnotes) that should appeal to readers who enjoyed The Assistants, by Camille Perri, or Capital Girls, by Ella Monroe." —Library Journal
"Christina McDowell has written a delicious, cunningly plotted page-turner about my former home, Washington, D.C. She nails all kinds of insider nostrums, lies, handbags, tacky earrings, sexual predation, private clubs, teenage nihilism and most revealingly, racism, as only the elite can practice it at its most virulent. She's a huge talent with a huge heart." —Lorraine Adams, author of Harbor and The Room and the Chair
"The Cave Dwellers is a provocative and extraordinary tale of family legacy, racism, classism and greed. In scathing prose, McDowell's writing is as addictive as it is powerful. Love this book, and it's still lingering in my mind weeks after reading it." —James Frey, New York Times bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces
This information about The Cave Dwellers (An American Satire) was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Christina McDowell is the author of the critically acclaimed book, After Perfect: A Daughter's Memoir, as well as the author of Cave Dwellers. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post; The New York Times; Los Angeles Times; HuffPost; The Guardian; O, The Oprah Magazine; People; LA Weekly; Marie Claire; USA Today; and The Village Voice, among others. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Christina is an advocate for restorative justice and criminal justice reform. She lives in Washington, DC.
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