Rumaan Alam
Rumaan Alam has published 6 books across 3 series. The recommended reading order starts with Rich and Pretty (2016).
Rumaan Alam is an author and editor whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New Republic, where he is a contributing editor. He studied writing at Oberlin College. Alam is the author of the novels Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, and Leave the World Behind. He lives in New York with his husband and their two children.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Anthologies
- Tags---DescriptionPloughshares Summer 2021, guest-edited by Rumaan Alam, is the 50th Anniversary Issue of the journal the New York Times called "the Triton among minnows." This installment of the Order of Anthologies series gathers writers who make the shapes they want to make and follow the flow of the story, reminding readers what a story or an essay can do and be. The collection includes work from Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Rumaan Alam, Patrick Cottrell, Amelia Gray, Mona Awad, and others — voices that work the form to hold the complexity. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated fresh voices in contemporary American literature, and this anniversary issue continues that tradition with a bountifully inhabited sea of prose.Publication date11 July 2021LanguageEnglishPublisherPloughshares / Emerson College
Order of Getaway Books
- Tagsshort-storiesDescriptionA summer vacation on Cape Cod forces one man to question the life he thought he understood. Shell Game is a short story about Mark, who has a wife, two kids, financial security, and a fragile contentment he has learned to protect. Then a family trip with his abrasive brother-in-law and unhappy sister-in-law begins to reveal uncomfortable truths about the people closest to him. The longer the vacation stretches on, the more Mark's sense of who he is and what his family really looks like starts to unravel. First published in 2022 as part of Getaway, a collection of six stories about dream escapes that turn sinister, Shell Game runs twenty-eight pages and can be read in a single sitting.Publication dateAugust 31, 2022Amazon rating2.6/5Print length28LanguageEnglishPublisherAmazon Original Stories
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tags---DescriptionSarah and Lauren have been best friends for twenty years, from high school through college, first jobs and first loves, but now in their thirties they barely see each other. Rich and Pretty is a novel about what happens when the closeness that once felt unbreakable begins to look more like habit than connection. Sarah, the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a charity and is planning her wedding with careful precision. Lauren is single, working in publishing, and deflecting her parents' questions about her future by refusing to think about it at all. Each woman envies parts of the other's life and is quietly horrified by others, and both have learned exactly which subjects to avoid in conversation. They share secrets selectively. Their lives have diverged in ways neither quite acknowledges. The question the novel turns on is whether two women who rarely meet, who edit what they tell each other, and who lead such different lives can still call themselves best friends. The answer depends on whether what holds them together is real attachment or just the weight of two decades they cannot let go.Publication dateJune 7, 2016Amazon rating3.1/5Print length304LanguageEnglishPublisherHarperAvenue
- TagschildrenmysterysuspensethrillerDescriptionThat Kind of Mother is a novel about a white woman who hires the Black nurse who helped her in the hospital, then adopts her son when she dies. Rebecca Stone is a new mother drowning in the demands of caring for her infant when Priscilla Johnson, the only person at the hospital who offered real help, agrees to come home as the baby's nanny. Priscilla steadies Rebecca's life and changes how she sees the world. Through their relationship, Rebecca confronts the blind spots of her own privilege for the first time. She feels connected to the woman who taught her what it means to be a mother. When Priscilla dies unexpectedly in childbirth, Rebecca steps forward to adopt the baby. She is unprepared for what it means to be a white mother raising a Black son. The world insists on treating her two children differently, no matter how fiercely she loves them both. Motherhood becomes a matter of learning to raise two boys the world refuses to see the same way, and Rebecca must reckon with what her choice to adopt has set in motion.Publication dateMay 8, 2018Amazon rating3.4/5Print length400LanguageEnglishPublisherHarper Large Print
- Tagssuspenseliterary-fictionthrillerDescriptionA late-night knock on the door breaks the vacation wide open. Leave the World Behind is a suspense novel about two families, strangers to each other, trapped together when the world outside stops making sense. Amanda and Clay have rented a remote Long Island house for the week — a reprieve from the city, time with their teenage son and daughter, a taste of luxury. Then Ruth and G. H. arrive in a panic. The older couple say the house is theirs, that a sudden blackout has swept New York, and that they had nowhere else to go. But the TV and internet are down, cell service is gone, and the facts are unknowable. Amanda and Clay have no way to verify the story or what has happened back in the city. Ruth and G. H. have no way to prove who they are. The vacation home is isolated, cut off from civilization, and the two families are alone with each other. Trust becomes the first problem. What happened in New York is the second. Whether this house is safe — and whether they are safe from one another — is the question neither family can answer.Publication dateOctober 6, 2020Amazon rating3.6/5Print length256LanguageEnglishPublisherEcco
- TagsthrillermysterysuspenseDescriptionBrooke wants a sense of purpose, a way to make a difference, and the independence that comes with meaningful work. Entitlement, a 2024 novel, follows her into a job assisting an octogenarian billionaire who has decided to give away his vast fortune. The work could deliver everything she is looking for — and it does, though not in the ways she imagined. Proximity to that much money begins to reshape her. What starts as a professional role becomes something harder to name, and the longer Brooke spends near wealth of that scale, the more her own desires shift and multiply. Money, it turns out, is a kind of belief, and belief can rewrite what a person thinks they need and what they think they deserve. The questions the novel raises — about worth and need, race and privilege, philanthropy and what generosity actually means — tighten around Brooke as her entanglement with the billionaire deepens. The story asks whether she can recognize what is happening to her in time, and whether recognizing it will be enough to stop it.Publication dateSeptember 17, 2024Amazon rating3.3/5Print length288LanguageEnglishPublisherRiverhead Books
Frequently Asked Questions about Rumaan Alam
Rumaan Alam writes standalone novels. The books are Rich and Pretty, published in 2016, followed by That Kind of Mother in 2018, and Leave the World Behind in 2020. His most recent novel is Entitlement, released in 2024. He also contributed to anthologies, including Ploughshares Summer 2021, and a Getaway Book titled Shell Game in 2022. Because the novels are not connected as a series, they can be read in any order. Readers often begin with his most recent work or a book that has received significant attention, such as Leave the World Behind.
A good starting point for Rumaan Alam's books is often Leave the World Behind, published in 2020. This novel was a finalist for the National Book Award and was adapted into a film. Another accessible entry point is his debut novel, Rich and Pretty, from 2016, which introduces his characteristic style. His other standalone novels, That Kind of Mother and Entitlement, are also suitable for new readers. He has also contributed to anthologies and shorter collections.
The novels written by Rumaan Alam are standalone works, meaning they do not form a continuous series. Each book tells a distinct story with different characters and settings. Therefore, readers do not need to read them in any specific chronological order. You can begin with any of his novels, such as Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, Leave the World Behind, or Entitlement, based on your preference or what might pique your interest.
Rumaan Alam primarily writes standalone novels. His published novels include Rich and Pretty (2016), That Kind of Mother (2018), Leave the World Behind (2020), and Entitlement (2024). He has also contributed to anthologies and authored a Getaway Book titled Shell Game (2022). These works are not part of a connected series, allowing readers to engage with each book independently.
Rumaan Alam has written four standalone novels: Rich and Pretty (2016), That Kind of Mother (2018), Leave the World Behind (2020), and Entitlement (2024). He has also contributed to anthologies, such as Ploughshares Summer 2021, and published a Getaway Book titled Shell Game in 2022. The total number of distinct book-length works where he is credited as the primary author is four.
The first book Rumaan Alam wrote was the novel Rich and Pretty, published in 2016. This marked his debut as a novelist and introduced his distinctive approach to exploring social dynamics and relationships. Prior to this, he may have had shorter works or contributions to anthologies, but Rich and Pretty is recognized as his first full-length novel.
Rumaan Alam's most recent book is Entitlement, published in 2024. This novel follows his previous standalone works, including Leave the World Behind (2020), That Kind of Mother (2018), and Rich and Pretty (2016). His recent work continues his exploration of contemporary themes and character-driven narratives.
Rumaan Alam writes contemporary fiction, often focusing on social commentary, family dynamics, and the complexities of modern life. His novels explore themes of race, class, and identity within carefully constructed narratives. While specific genre labels are not always definitive, his work is generally situated within literary fiction, often with elements of suspense or psychological depth.
Madeline Miller
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We verified the reading order for Rumaan Alam's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: July 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Rumaan Alam Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/rumaan-alam