The Association

Nothing brings a family together like a common enemy—and when HOA negligence leads to destruction, three generations of women must unite to prank, organize, and investigate to save their home.

New homeowner Gabriela Beltram isn’t trying to make trouble when she takes a photo of a crack in the building. She has enough to worry about as the family settles into their new Miami condo, between her mother Nonna’s mysterious health scare and her daughter Maya’s difficulty fitting into a new school. But when Gabriela points out the crack to the HOA president of Villas del Sol, any opportunity to peacefully settle into their new home vanishes.

The first passive aggressive letter is posted on the Beltram’s door the next day, warning them that their Christmas lights have been up two weeks too long. In an act of malicious compliance, teenage Maya simply decides to add a few Valentine’s Day decorations. Gabriela begins to dread returning home after work because she knows a new notice will be posted on their door. First, it’s the lights. Then it’s their curtains. Then the noise complaints—and the family begins to battle the HOA in earnest. When the parrots start congregating en masse on their balcony, all hell breaks loose. All along, the crack continues to grow.

What begins as zany hijinks becomes a hunt for clues. Gabriela swears the crack in the building is an omen of something far worse. Maya begins to wonder if the HOA’s commitment to the bylaws may be a cover to keep the residents from asking too many questions about where their money is going. As the HOA tries to force the Beltrams out by making their condo as inhospitable as possible, the family must decide what the true cost of the American Dream is – and redefine what home means.

• "An often uproarious and always complex look at both family and community through the lens of the much-maligned American Homeowners' Association, The Association offers no shortage of subversion and wit. Sylvester's sharp characters navigate a semi-suburban world of corruption and well-earned vigilantism with finesse. You'd almost think that this was real life—and those of us faced with suburban struggles know that it very well could be. I devoured this one, and readers will, too."
  Hannah Selinger, bestselling author of Valley of the Moms