The Exiles: A Novel

A couple escaping the over-the-top lifestyle of Manhattan’s Upper East Side move to comparably quaint Newport, Rhode Island, only to be confronted by truths they tried to leave behind.

Nate, a midlevel Wall Streeter, and his partner Emily are effectively evicted from New York City when they can no longer afford their cramped apartment on the Upper East Side. An out presents itself when Nate’s offered a job in Newport—complete with a bucolic, small-scale, and seemingly affordable new house. They’re eager to start fresh, yet within minutes of arriving in Rhode Island, their car and belongings are stolen, and they’re left with nothing but the keys to an empty house and a bawling 10-month-old son.

Over the three-day weekend that follows, as Emily and Nate watch their meager pile of cash dwindle and tension increase, the secrets they kept from each other in the city emerge—and threaten to destroy their hope for a future.

A story about economic precariousness, family history, tainted gene pools, art theft, architecture, and the mad grab for the American Dream, The Exiles bravely explores the weights of our pasts—and whether or not it’s possible to start over.