In Rich Man, Poor Man, siblings Rudy, Tom, and Gretchen Jordache grow up in a small town on the Hudson River. They’re in their teens in the 1940s, too young to go to war but marked by it nevertheless. Their father is the local baker, and nothing suggests they will live storied lives. Yet, in this sprawling saga, each member of the family pushes against the grain of history and confronts the perils and pleasures of a world devastated by conflict and transformed by American commerce and culture.

In the sequel, Beggarman, Thief, the Jordache family reunites after a terrible act of violence. Wesley never really knew his father, Tom, the black sheep of the Jordache family. Driven by his sorrow and a need for justice, Wesley uncovers surprising truths about his estranged family’s complicated past.