Upward Bound: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel

A wondrous, deeply affecting portrait of the interlocking lives at an adult day care center in Southern California, depicting an often overlooked community with extraordinary wit and grace—a “triumphant”* novel by a major new literary voice hailed as a “groundbreaking debut novelist”**

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“[A] revelation that forces you to ask: How much do we overlook in people—how many gifts do we fail to nurture—by making overly hasty judgments?”—Frank Bruni, The New York Times

“Funny and moving and ringing with life.”—The Guardian*

“This captivating work illuminates a world too often ignored.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)**

“Implosive and wonderfully inspirational.”—Paul Beatty

“Great characters, great pace, great story—reading Upward Bound is a complicated joy.”—Roddy Doyle

“It will change the way you look at the world.”—Angie Kim

Upward Bound is unlike any novel you've read before. Set in an adult day care center in Los Angeles, it's a profoundly moving group portrait of autism and other disabilities, all illuminated by Woody Brown’s empathy, sly sense of humor, and enormous gifts as a novelist. With remarkable sophistication, insight, and creativity, Brown depicts a community too-often invisible in literature and society. Filled with characters you won’t soon forget, Upward Bound will inspire and touch you, teaching you as much about yourself as the tender, miraculous world behind the center’s doors.