Nancy A. Bekofske started blogging in 2008, writing about the books she read and the quilts she was working on. Over the years she’s added other content and began reviewing galleys and advanced reading copies of upcoming books. I’ve admired her thoughtful reviews for a long time and was thrilled when she agreed to add “Those People Behind Us” to her TBR stack.
Here’s what she said.
“Neighborhoods. We have lived in a dozen over my husband’s career. We lived in the inner city and in the suburbs, in resort towns and small towns, among the working class poor and the wealthy.
We retired to a city of two square miles with under 12K people. On the surface, it is a friendly place, a suburban community that feels small town. It’s also a divided city. One house displayed a huge banner for Trump and next to it a house displayed a huge banner for Biden. One house had a sign supporting police and another Black Lives Matter. The new mayor’s Fourth of July float was attacked as a campaign float by the last mayor.
Those People Behind Us peels back the pleasant façade of one community, revealing the hidden fear of change and of ‘those people’.
The neighborhood is upscale, Beamers and Teslas in the driveways, driven by white, well-off homeowners. Lisa Kensington is a realtor. She takes pride in the community, always concerned about maintaining its best appearance and keeping it up to exacting standards.
Set in the early days of the Trump presidency, a hate group presents as a service group. Wearing a MAGA hat brings nod and scowls. Those who bring ‘outsiders’ from another city, of another color, are shocked by snide comments.
Personal tragedy has touched these families: the deaths of a child, an aging parent, a spouse. A young adult feels forced from his family home and is sleeping in his car on the street, raising concerns in the community, especially for Lisa. Marriages are troubled. Teens act out.
With chapters alternating characters, we come to know these people. And we feel for them. Nothing is what it appears to be on the surface. The upstanding citizen turns out to be hateful, the feared are truly caring.
An honest and thoughtful portrayal of American society in divisive times, the novel also offers hope that by finding the humanity in our neighbor we can find common ground and acceptance.”
