K
Kiley Reid
Kiley Reid is an American author. Her debut novel, "Such a Fun Age," was published in 2020. She writes contemporary fiction.
Such a Fun Age
Synopsis
Late one night, twenty-five-year-old Emira Tucker is confronted by a security guard in an upscale Philadelphia grocery store and accused of kidnapping the white toddler she babysits. The incident is filmed by a bystander, and its aftermath pulls Emira into the increasingly uncomfortable attentions of two white people determined to make things right on her behalf: Alix Chamberlain, the affluent influencer who employs her, and the man who recorded the video.
As their good intentions curdle into something more self-serving, Emira — still figuring out what she wants from her own life — becomes the object of other people's narratives about race, rescue, and virtue.
Kiley Reid's sharp, propulsive debut examines class, privilege, and the transactional nature of care with wit and unsettling precision.
Genres
Characters
Emira TuckerProtagonist
A twenty-five-year-old Black babysitter in Philadelphia, uncertain about her career and about to age off her parents' health insurance, who is wrongly accused of kidnapping the child she cares for.
Alix ChamberlainProtagonist
A wealthy white influencer and letter-writing brand founder who employs Emira, and whose determination to befriend and 'help' her drives the second half of the novel's alternating narration.
Briar ChamberlainSupporting
Alix's talkative three-year-old daughter, the child Emira babysits and the one person in the household she is genuinely attached to.
Kelley CopelandSupporting
The bystander who films the supermarket confrontation and later becomes Emira's boyfriend; he dated Alix in high school, a coincidence that entangles all three.
Peter ChamberlainSupporting
Alix's husband, a local television news anchor whose on-air remark brings unwanted attention to the family.
Australian Book Industry Award for International Book of the Year (2021)Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Novel (2020)
Frequently asked questions
Did Such a Fun Age win the Booker Prize?
No. Such a Fun Age was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, but it did not advance to the six-book shortlist announced on 15 September 2020, and the prize itself went to Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain. The question comes up often because the Bloomsbury paperback carries a "Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize" badge on its front cover — a longlisting, not a win.
What awards has Such a Fun Age won?
Kiley Reid's debut won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Novel and International Book of the Year at the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards. It also picked up a long list of nominations without winning them: it was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award and for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author, and shortlisted for Debut Book of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards.