Selected as One of the Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times

* An insiders narrative that grips from the start.” Vogue * Unmatched in depth and power and grace. A profound, achingly beautiful work of narrative nonfiction. Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted *

This New York Times bestseller is an “astonishingly intimate” (New York magazine) and harrowing chronicle of drugs, poverty, and three generations of women in the South Bronx.

In her extraordinary bestseller, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Focusing on two romancesJessicas dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and Cocos first love with Jessica’s little brother, CesarRandom Family is the story of young people trying to outrun their destinies. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between survival and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and, throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty.

Charting the tumultuous cycle of the generationsas girls become mothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivationLeBlanc slips behind the cold statistics and sensationalism and comes back with a haunting true story that is a “riveting portrait of the other America” (People).