Rumaan Alam Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Getaway Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Rumaan Alam is an American author of fiction.

Besides his novels, his readers may also know his work from such publications as Meridian and Crazyhorse. Alam has also written nonfiction pieces about other subjects for publications such as New York Magazine. Rumaan Alam studied at Oberlin College for writing.

Alam currently resides with his husband and their children in New York. He says that he is very good at making overly-complicated dinners and building things using Legos. His first novel was published in 2016 and is called Rich and Pretty.

Rumaan Alam penned this thoughtful fictional story about two girls who share friendship from a young age and go through a coming of age together as they become adults and their friendship is tested. His second novel is titled That Kind of Mother and was released in 2018.

Rich and Pretty is his debut fictional novel. Alam delighted critics and readers alike with this insightful story that follows two main characters, Sarah and Lauren. The novel is set in New York in the contemporary age and is the story of a relationship between two friends that have been as close as sisters for years.

Lauren and Sarah have been best friends for over twenty years. They grew up together and were together in high school and in college too. As time passed, they found themselves transitioning into living adult lives. They weren’t sharing their test results and their crushes together anymore; now it was celebrating landing their first jobs out of college and falling in love.

Their relationship has changed as time has gone on. Together Lauren and Sarah navigate their teenage years and their twenties, always having the other one to rely on. As the two best friends move into the reality of their thirties, their once inseparable relationship has started to change.

Sarah is an only child of a socialite and a prominent intellectual. She has followed in their footsteps somewhat as she is not only devoted to her job working at a charity but planning an upcoming wedding. She is exactly where she is supposed to be in life.

Meanwhile, Lauren is independent and beautiful, but also unpredictable and single. She’s currently working in publishing and finding living as an adult a little tougher than Sarah is. Lauren is also trying not to think about the challenges of her current life or think about her future, all while dodging questions from her concerned parents.

While they used to see each other all of the time and be in constant contact, now Sarah and Lauren are seeing each other rarely. They used to share everything, but it seems that each is selective with what secrets they give up to the other. They are envious of certain things in the other one’s life, yet they also quietly are horrified by other aspects of the way the other lives. However, when they get together, neither of the two betrays this to the other and they avoid the topic in conversation altogether.

The two girls used to be impossible to split up, and now they have been apart for a long time. The change has been gradual, and yet now they are on the other side of what used to be such a close connection. Can they still call themselves best friends? Is this just a part of the process as people transition into a different stage of life and they just will never be that close again?

Lauren and Sarah are not certain whether they still stay in contact because their connection is intact or it’s just a force of habit– and not wanting to hurt the other one’s feelings. What is keeping them together now? Will anything be able to ever bring them together again?

Full of feeling, humor, style, and detail, Rumaan Alam has put out a winning first novel that will tug at your heartstrings as well as make you smile. This debut novel explores our childhood bonds and how friendships evolve and so do we as we transition into adult life. Anything but what the title sounds like, pick up Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam to see what happens with Lauren, Sarah, and their friendship.

Rumaan Alam’s second fiction novel is titled That Kind of Mother. This intriguing second book from the author asks questions about everything from race to adoption and parenthood and mothers and focuses on the families we fight to build and keep. Check out the novel that author Celeste Ng (Little Fires Everywhere) calls ‘heartfelt and thought-provoking’, praising Alam’s sense of irony and his eye for nuance.

It also asks the big questions about good intentions and how far they can take you in life as well as whether mothering can be something that is learned or something that comes naturally. In this book, Alam questions whether love is enough to overcome all obstacles, including such things as race and class.

In ‘Mother’, Rebecca Stone is the main character. She is in love with her new son, just like any other first-time mom. She is also feeling very overwhelmed. Rebecca has never been through this before and feels alone in the process. In addition, she feels a lot of pressure from herself to balance the demands of motherhood with her own aspirations.

Feeling isolated, she reaches out to a woman named Priscilla Johnson for help. She was the only person at the hospital who offered to help her at all in any real way, and Rebecca implores Priscilla to please come to her home and start working as a nanny for her son.

Priscilla agrees, and the comfort and stability that she immediately provides is a huge relief to Rebecca. They build a friendship and through it, the two learn from the other. Rebecca is white and learns from Priscilla, who is black, to accept her own blind spots when it comes to her privilege. She also learns from Priscilla what it is to be a mother.

When tragedy strikes, will Rebecca be able to live the lessons she learned? Can she be the mother she wants to be? Read this dramatic second book from Alam to find out!