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A Better Life

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A Better Life

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Summary

‘A superb satirical novelist’ WASHINGTON POST

In a provocative novel addressing contemporary immigration by the sharply observant Lionel Shriver, a New York family takes in a Honduran migrant – who may or may not be the innocent paragon she claims to be.

‘An incendiary provocateur’ EVENING STANDARD

‘A gleeful satire on the immigration debate’ THE TIMES

Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city programme – Big Apple, Big Heart – that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is sceptical. A classic live-at-home, unemployed Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents the indignity of moving from his self-contained basement flat and back into his childhood bedroom.

As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico’s sisters, while finding her way into Gloria’s heart. But as Martine’s disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico grows only more hostile to both his mother’s altruism and the ‘migrant crisis’ in general – though turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.

©2026 Lionel Shriver (P)2026 HarperCollins Publishers Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire World Literature Witty Funny Heartfelt Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

‘A gleeful satire on the immigration debate’ THE TIMES

‘Master of the neat twist’ DAILY EXPRESS

‘Shriver's hard-headedness and willingness to say controversial things are refreshing’ PROSPECT

‘An acerbic comedian’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Shriver is brilliant’ THE TIMES

‘A formidably sharp writer’ EVENING STANDARD

‘Shriver has the gift for making one instantly curious’ OBSERVER

‘A writer who wants us to think more, probe more, challenge more — and who also makes it fun’ SUNDAY TIMES

All stars
Most relevant
Lionel Shriver, as ever, gets to the point and balances the characters beautifully, with wit and insight. Can't wait to find out her next topic - target? People will be reading her in decades to come.

Superb

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I enjoyed this book and got through it very quickly. It’s a good story apart from the politics. This was an unflinching look at immigration from all sides of the debate. Feathers on the left and the right are ruffled and for the best. Read this book and find your own really honest position.

The unflinching honesty of this novel is wonderful

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The story is brutally devastating not least because of the perfectly ambiguous impartiality of the narrator and the detached tone, in which a harrowing story reaches its catastrophic conclusion.

True Lionel Shriver

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Lays out the divisions clearly that have arisen on immigration and the consequences of making ideological choices.

Absorbing

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This is a nuanced and brilliant book that should serve as a warning and wake up call to the west.

A story of our time

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