First World Problems
About this ebook
Emma Bovant has lost her job but struggles to keep up appearances even though her family can’t match the pampered lifestyle of her friends from “the Estates.” Her dissatisfaction with her position in society, like Emma Bovary’s, is caused partly by reading—in this case of articles like “Exotic Vacation Getaways to Enrich Your Life” and “Designing the Perfect Second Home.”
Emma’s simple, naïve husband Charles is no help. As long as there are no preservatives, pesticides, or growth hormones in his food, he is content. He has no ambition and believes no ill of anyone, which causes trouble when the glamorous real estate developer Bea hires him as a life coach and lures him away to New York, leaving Emma to care for their third-grader Todd by herself.
For solace, Emma turns to their unmarried, eccentric friend Andre. He is gay, attractive, and totally unconcerned with what he calls Emma’s "first-world problems." Partly under his influence, Emma abandons her struggle to meet the expectations of wealthy neighbors, begins tutoring an immigrant family, and comes to their aid when the corrupt county executive stages an Immigration raid as a political ploy.
When Emma uncovers a conspiracy by Bea and her pastor Mitch Rainey to defraud Andre and his neighbors of their property in order complete their Riverside Paradise development, it is up to her to stop it.
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About the author
Rea Keech served in the Peace Corps in Iran from 1967 to 1969. He has lived in Severna Park, Maryland, since 1980. He was Professor of English at Anne Arundel Community College from 1978 to 2013. Before that he taught at the University of South Carolina, Voorhees College, and at schools in Iran, Japan, and Greece. A large part of his career has been spent teaching international students.
For many years he raced a Snipe and a J29 sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay out of Annapolis, but since he has retired, he spends most of his time writing.
