“Stephanie Powell Watts is a writer of wondrous skill, imagination, and sensitivity.” - Edward P. Jones, author of The Known World

A powerful first novel about an extended African-American family and their colliding visions of the American Dream.

JJ Ferguson has returned home to Pinewood, North Carolina to build his dream home and to woo his high school sweetheart, Ava. But he finds that the people he once knew and loved have changed, just as he has. Ava is now married, and she wants a baby more than anything. The decline of the town’s once-thriving furniture industry has dampened local job prospects, making Ava’s husband Henry grow distant and frustrated. Ava’s mother Sylvia has put her own life on hold as she caters to and meddles in the lives around her, trying to fill the void left by her absent son. And Don, Sylvia’s unworthy but charming husband, just won’t stop hanging around.

JJ’s return-and his plans to build a huge mansion overlooking the town and pursue Ava-not only unsettles their family, but stirs up the entire town. The ostentatious wealth that JJ has attained forces everyone to consider what more they want and deserve from life than what they already have-and how they might go about getting it. Can they shape their lives to align with their wishes rather than their realities? Or are they already resigned to the rhythms of the particular lives they lead?

No One Is Coming to Save Us is a revelatory debut from an insightful voice that combines a universally resonant story with an intimate glimpse into the hearts of one family.