Pineapple Street

By: Jenny Jackson

Narrated by: Marin Ireland

Brought to you by Penguin.

This unputdownable debut follows three women in an old Brooklyn Heights clan: one who was born with money, one who married into it, and one who wants to give it all away.

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, carefully-guarded Stockton family, has never had to worry about money. Darley followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood, sacrificing more of herself than she ever intended. Sasha, Darley's new sister-in-law, has come from more humble origins, and her hesitancy about signing a pre-nup has everyone worried about her intentions. And Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can't (and really shouldn't) have, and must confront the kind of person she wants to be.

Shot through with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York's one per centers - glittering parties, weekend homes and hungover brunches - Pineapple Street is a scintillating, escapist novel that sparkles with wit and wry humour. Full of recognisable, loveable if fallible characters (and a few appalling ones!), it's about the peculiar unknowability of someone else's family, the miles between the haves and have-nots and everything in between.

© Jenny Jackson 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critic reviews

It's marvellous - clever, funny and brilliantly well observed (India Knight)

The season's first beach read, a delicious romp of a debut featuring family crises galore

A delicious new Gilded Age family drama . . . a guilty pleasure that also feels like a sociological text

A joy to read . . . Pineapple Street is a gift of a novel

Jenny Jackson turns this story of super-rich people living frustrated lives in Brooklyn into a compelling and thoughtful look at what it means to have very little agency in your own life. While it's hard to feel too much sympathy for the main characters, it's an excellent read

A lovely, absorbing, acutely observed novel about class, money and love. These are the themes of Henry James and Jane Austen, but they are observed with a fresh eye and a contemporary voice. (Nick Hornby)

Smart and clever, minutely observed and packed with one-liners, Pineapple Street is a more complicated read than it looks

Pineapple Street is a portrait at once searing, hilarious and poignant of a NY family straight-jacketed by their own wealth (Miranda Cowley Heller)

I stayed up until five in the morning devouring PINEAPPLE STREET. Nothing beats a story told this well and rendered with such lovingly comic precision . . . Truly the smartest and most deliciously fun novel I've read in ages (Kevin Kwan)

Books about complicated American blue blood families are my literary catnip so I loved this novel about a woman marrying into a wealthy New York clan and the struggles she faces to fit in. It's a smart, entertaining exploration of class and money and the expectations that come with both

Fruity salad

Frankly it finished all too soon & that’s a compliment. A glimpse into the world of the ‘beautiful people’ oh what it must be like to be so wealthy, yet so clueless. How I’d love to be a locust on G’s shoulder for her trip to Africa to ‘save’ women, because sadly what the ‘west’ thinks of Africa & what it is, is poles apart, but kudo’s to those that try. ^^ this is a tiny part of the book. An excellent read.

Easy read, well performed

Interesting take on super rich old families, enjoyed it as easy listening, good performance by the narrator

Loved it

I finished it very quickly and couldn’t wait to get in the car so I could listen to it on my commute. Cannot wait for the next one!