Take What You Can
Will be published approx. on 6. August 2026
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-3987-0337-7 (ISBN)
Description
'So brilliantly, unbelievably good I have a burning in my heart from gulping it down too fast' Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich and Wreck
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other, bonding as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now, they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. And when Milly suggests Val move to New York to raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it's a resounding yes.
However, Val and Milly are no longer the girls they once were. Milly is a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, and Val, is a brilliant journalist, struggling to write her first book and fit into her old friend's new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they've grown.
And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to a rift that began all those years ago in France. What they've long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood...
The deeply engrossing new novel about female friendships from Naima Coster, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN has been selected as one of People's Most Anticipated Books of 2026, New York Times Summer's Best Beach Reads and Harper Bazaar's Summer Book Picks.
PRAISE FOR NAIMA COSTER
"A magnificent book of emotional precision and startling insight, as awake to beauty and light as it is unafraid of the shadows, Take What You Can had me spellbound as I tore through it' Megha Majumdar, National Book Award finalist for A Guardian and a Thief and bestselling author of A Burning
'The kind of novel you'll be hungry to share with your own friends, debating who's right, who's wrong, and who could use a hug the most' Dawnie Walton, Women's Prize longlisted author of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other, bonding as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now, they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. And when Milly suggests Val move to New York to raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it's a resounding yes.
However, Val and Milly are no longer the girls they once were. Milly is a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, and Val, is a brilliant journalist, struggling to write her first book and fit into her old friend's new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they've grown.
And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to a rift that began all those years ago in France. What they've long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood...
The deeply engrossing new novel about female friendships from Naima Coster, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN has been selected as one of People's Most Anticipated Books of 2026, New York Times Summer's Best Beach Reads and Harper Bazaar's Summer Book Picks.
PRAISE FOR NAIMA COSTER
"A magnificent book of emotional precision and startling insight, as awake to beauty and light as it is unafraid of the shadows, Take What You Can had me spellbound as I tore through it' Megha Majumdar, National Book Award finalist for A Guardian and a Thief and bestselling author of A Burning
'The kind of novel you'll be hungry to share with your own friends, debating who's right, who's wrong, and who could use a hug the most' Dawnie Walton, Women's Prize longlisted author of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev
Reviews / Votes
What's Mine and Yours is a book about parents who try and fail and then try again. An extraordinary cast of characters, nuanced and full of insight. It's about children who hold their loved ones accountable. It reveals in absolutely engrossing and tension-filled prose how a tragedy haunts a family. Coster is a master storyteller through and through. Read this book. * Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana * Naima Coster is definitely a writer to watch. Her clear-eyed writing interrogates race, class, and family in a refreshing and thoroughly engaging way. * Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone * Naima Coster is definitely a writer to watch. Her clear-eyed writing interrogates race, class, and family in a refreshing and thoroughly engaging way. * Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone * Naima Coster's What's Mine and Yours moves from moment to moment of startling grace. This expansive, generous novel tackles big themes - systemic racism, the reverberations of gun violence, class inequity - but it always feels thrillingly personal. Multiple times, it moved me to tears. An exquisite and vital portrait of family, place, and the bonds that transform our lives, What's Mine and Yours is more than a beautiful read - it's an essential one, destined to be talked about for years to come as a book that saw the world and spoke the truth with tenderness, wisdom, and love. * Julie Buntin, author of Marlena * Naima Coster weaves a beautiful tapestry of voices together in What's Mine and Yours. This is a sprawling, moving narrative about the messiness of love and family, mothering, race, and community. Here we follow two families connected by place and circumstance as they try to free themselves of those bonds. The result? Rich, complex individual stories that merge to form a satisfying, startling end. * Crystal Hana Kim, Author of If You Leave Me *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-3987-0337-7 (9781398703377)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Naima Coster lives in Brooklyn. She has an MA in English from Fordham University and an MFA from Columbia University. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Guernica and The Sunday Times, among others. She was awarded the Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize from the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival for her personal essay "Remembering When Brooklyn Was Mine" in The New York Times. Her debut Halsey Street was a Finalist for the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.