Kiley Reid emerged on the literary scene at the end of 2019, when her debut novel Such a Fun Age released in a crescendo of buzz. The story of a Black babysitter accused of kidnapping her white charge, Such a Fun Age was a breezy, effortlessly compelling read, a juicy comedy of manners that also tackled tricky issues of race and class. It was a Reese’s Book Club pick, and Lena Waithe’s production company bought the film and TV rights. Now, Reid has released her second novel, Come and Get It.

Come and Get It channels the easy charm of Such a Fun Age, but this is a darker, more ambitious project. It aims to withhold easy satisfactions, to frustrate, to condemn. It’s only partially successful.

As in Such a Fun Age, the central relationship of Come and Get It is one between a wealthy middle-aged white woman and a young Black woman she is paying for a service. Here, the white woman is Agatha, a journalist with a chic capsule wardrobe and a protective attachment to her seven-piece Wüsthof knife set. The Black woman is 24-year-old Millie, a college RA desperately hoarding money so she can afford to put a down payment on a house as soon as she graduates.

Agatha and Millie meet when Agatha moves to the small Southern college........

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