Set in the leafy North Carolina community of Oak Knoll, A Good Neighborhood follows Valerie Alston-Holt, a forestry professor, and her bright biracial son, Xavier, as their lives collide with a new, wealthy family next door. A demolished house and a contested old oak spark escalating tensions that ripple through both households.

The story traces the messy intersection of class, race and intimacy: a budding romance between the families' teenagers, conflicts over property and identity, and the choices people make when loyalties clash. The novel favors close psychological detail and moral complexity over easy answers.

Compact and emotionally attentive, this contemporary literary novel suits readers who appreciate careful character study and community drama. It offers ample material for book-club discussion about privilege, belonging and how neighbors truly live alongside one another.

• Themes: race & class, family dynamics, suburban conflict
• Style: character-driven contemporary fiction
• Details: paperback, 2020 publication

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