Book excerpt: "The Cave Dwellers" by Christina McDowell
In her first novel, "The Cave Dwellers" (Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a division of ViacomCBS), Christina McDowell, author of the acclaimed memoir "After Perfect," writes of a Washington elite whose bloodlines and exclusive status can't protect them from murder.
Read an excerpt below.
Genevieve Banks was the epitome of chic. She never left the house without stockings or her signature Yves Saint Laurent hot-pink lipstick with Chanel beige lip gloss slathered on top. She was no dummy. A buyer for Lord & Taylor in her early twenties, she'd met Mr. Banks when he was still a young lawyer. "I just knew he would make a lot of money on his own," she would say to her girlfriends, as if his family money weren't the reason she'd decided to marry him. But there would always be money – and she deserved some sort of prize for it. Mrs. Banks was a girl of good breeding: educated, Ivy League parents (though her parents didn't come from money, they were intellectuals, upper middle class). She was "good enough" to marry up, but she never felt good enough. Not many people knew this, but she was often a jealous person, competitive with her friends; it made most wonder if she even had any real ones. She was the kind of woman who knew how to find a man and, more important, how to keep him. When she and Mr. Banks had sex, she often sounded like she was tasting apple pie for the first time: "Mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!" She embodied a whole new vision of "fake it till you make it."
When Mrs. Banks became more notable in the Washingtonian social circle, hosting book parties and election parties and fundraisers for nonprofits like Teach for America, then moving up to hosting events at the French and British Embassies, she became known not just in Washington but through the social ranks of New York. This made Mr. Banks nervous because he couldn't control her or keep his family contained anymore, which meant he would have a harder time protecting them: Washington Life, New York Social Diary, the Washington Post Style Section, The Glam Pad blog, Facebook, Instagram!
And Audrey, poor thing, was Little Miss Popular, because it was becoming easier and easier to pay for friends, creating a curated virtual path into the life of a rich kid whom everyone could envy and want something from (Instagram stories on private jets: prayer hands, heart emoji!). Which, of course, posed an even greater risk of breaching the privacy Mr. Banks tried so hard to protect – something the old families of Washington coveted. A "quiet" reputation was desired among the elite of the elite. Those whose old money and manner lurk through the cobblestone streets of Georgetown, Kalorama, and Capitol Hill; those whose names can only be found in the exclusive Green Book – a discriminative, secret diary founded by the niece of Edith Roosevelt's social secretary – the names of Very Important People. Everyone inside it is wealthy, everyone inside it is powerful, and everyone has a reputation to protect. The pecking order at the top, the aristocratic bloodlines woven into the fabric of Washington, generation after generation after generation, only socialize within their inner circle, which is impenetrable – turning a blind eye to those who come and go on the political merry-go-round, yet rooted within the very foundation America was built upon.
But what they have failed to understand is that the world is changing. It wasn't until the Banks family was murdered that everything about their legacy was called into question.
They're called the Cave Dwellers.
Excerpted from "The Cave Dwellers" by Christina McDowell. Copyright © 2021 by Christina McDowell. Excerpted with permission by Scout Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For more info:
- "The Cave Dwellers" by Christina McDowell (Scout Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon and Indiebound
- christinamcdowell.com
