Want to get away from it all?  Maybe a rental house with no internet access that overlooks the woods and a swimming pool?  What if that heavenly vacation goes wrong -- really wrong -- in a way that has global consequences?  In Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind that's exactly what happens, starting with an unexpected late-night knock on the door that leads to reality itself shifting beneath the characters' feet.

Rumaan Alam is the author of three novels: Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, and Leave the World Behind. Other writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, and the New Republic, where he is a contributing editor. He also co-hosts two podcasts for Slate, studied writing at Oberlin College, and lives in New York with his husband and two kids.

Amanda Stern is Bookable’s host. Founder of the popular literary event series Happy Ending at Joe’s Pub in New York City, Stern is also a writer. Happy Ending ran for more than a decade and was selected as New York’s best book-related series by New York Magazine, The Village Voice and NY Press. The New York Times Magazine singled out Happy Ending as a force keeping “downtown New York alive.”