New York Times reporter Stephanie Clifford channels years of writing about business, media, and NYC into her first novel, Everybody Rise. Clifford looks at class divisions and personal identity through the eyes of Evelyn Beegan, a young social media marketer who finds herself embroiled in the lives of the New York elite just as the city is about to send America nosediving into the recession. Everybody Rise hits shelves on August 18 and, in support of its release, The A.V. Club and St. Martin’s Press are giving away a copy of the novel, as well as a $100 Visa gift card (which you should probably hold onto in case of another recession). For your chance to win, simply send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Everybody Rise.” Be sure to include your name and mailing address in the body of the email. U.S. entrants only. We’ll select one winner from eligible entries on Wednesday, August 19 and notify them via email. Estimated retail value of the prize is $126.99. An official plot synopsis for the novel can be found below.
“It’s 2006 in the Manhattan of the young and glamorous. Money and class are colliding in a city that is about to go over a financial precipice and take much of the country with it. At 26, bright, funny, and socially anxious Evelyn Beegan is determined to carve her own path in life and free herself from the influence of her social-climbing mother, who propelled her through prep school and onto the Upper East Side. Evelyn has long felt like an outsider to her privileged peers, but when she gets a job at a social network aimed at the elite, she’s forced to embrace them. Recruiting new members for the site, Evelyn steps into a promised land of Adirondack camps, Newport cottages and Southampton clubs thick with socialites and Wall Streeters. Despite herself, Evelyn finds the lure of belonging intoxicating, and starts trying to pass as old money herself. When her father, a crusading class-action lawyer, is indicted for bribery, Evelyn must contend with her own family’s downfall as she keeps up appearances in her new life, grasping with increasing desperation as the ground underneath her begins to give way.”