The Summer I Ate the Rich, Maika Moulite
The Summer I Ate the Rich, Maika Moulite
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The Summer I Ate the Rich

Author: Maika Moulite, Maritza Moulite

Narrator: Ashley De La Rosa, Fedna Jacquet, Khaya Fraites, Melinda Sewak, Mieko Gavia, Zuri Washington

Unabridged: 9 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/22/2025

Synopsis

“Melinda Sewak's tender, sometimes sinister, delivery of food descriptions enhances the story's evocative language.”—AudioFile

Just add garlic, lemon, and a dash of the one percent.

This smart, biting novel, which features multicast narration, explores what happens when a Haitian American girl uses her previously hidden zombie abilities to exact revenge on the wealthy elites who’ve caused her family pain.

Brielle Petitfour loves to cook. But with a chronically sick mother and bills to pay, becoming a chef isn’t exactly a realistic career path.

When Brielle’s mom suddenly loses her job, Brielle steps in and uses her culinary skills to earn some extra money. The rich families who love her cooking praise her use of unique flavors and textures, which keep everyone guessing what’s in Brielle’s dishes. The secret ingredient? Human flesh.

Written by the storytelling duo Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, The Summer I Ate the Rich is a modern-day fable inspired by Haitian zombie lore that scrutinizes the socioeconomic and racial inequity that is the foundation of our society. Just like Brielle’s clients, it will have you asking: What’s for dinner?

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

About Maika Moulite

Maika Moulite is a Miami native and the daughter of Haitian immigrants. Her acclaimed young adult novels frequently explore themes of identity, family, and vengeance. Her work has been featured on the TODAY Show and Essence Magazine. Maika is also a doctoral student at Howard University, exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, culture, and media. She’s the eldest of four sisters and, when she's not writing, loves listening to audiobooks, dancing and singing at the top of her lungs, and journaling (which actually means... more writing).

About Maritza Moulite

Maritza Moulite graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in women’s studies and the University of Southern California with a master’s in journalism. Her work often examines the lives of marginalized people and revenge, and has been featured on NPR and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Maritza’s favorite roles have been Head Start literacy tutor and pre-k teacher assistant. She is now a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania exploring ways to improve literacy through children’s media. She clearly couldn’t get enough of school. Her favorite song is “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

About Ashley De La Rosa

Ashley De La Rosa is an actor who has appeared on Broadway in Mean Girls and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She also has had roles in national tours of Hamilton: An American Musical and RENT. Ashley also has television roles in Dear Edward (Apple TV+) and The Other Two (HBO).

About Khaya Fraites

Khaya Fraites is a New York–based voice actor. She has narrated over 50 books and has been featured in Business Insider, Empire Magazine, and NBC's Today in the Bay for her voice work. She has received an Earphones Award and has been nominated for a One Voice Award.Some Macmillan titles she's lent her voice to include Where Shadows Meet by Patrcie Caldwell and The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maika & Maritza Moulite. She is inspired by stories about women across all genres and loves the opportunity to help tell these stories with her voice work.

About Melinda Sewak

Melinda Sewak (she/her/hers) is an Emmy-nominated story chaser, whose rich, lyrical, and welcoming voice brings life to an ever-growing cast of characters. Her facility with language is deeply immersive and has added dimension to 25+ audiobooks, ranging from children’s fiction to YA to romantic comedy to fantasy. Melinda has been fine-tuning her ability to convey the truth and the comedy in every story by drawing on her own diverse life experiences as a Black, queer creator – having grown up as a first-generation Haitian-American, graduated with a BA in Theater Studies from Yale University, toured as a jazz a cappella singer, worked as a firefighter and rescuer, conducted and published critical care and emergency medicine research, attended medical school, coached as a certified personal trainer, served as a Shakespeare teaching artist, worked in IT as a data and business analyst – and professionally acting on stage and screen. While varied, the through-line has always been a love for people and storytelling – and an always-present desire, evident in the rhythm and curiosity that exude from her voice, to discover, to share, and to connect with story and listener alike.

About Mieko Gavia

Mieko Gavia is a queer, multiracial narrator based in New York City. Her neurodiversity and 14 years of experience in the indie theatre scene have led to an affinity for diverse, multifaceted characters, and her work as a writer has led to her love of language and dynamic storylines. When narrating, she loves diving deep into character creation and tension building, while maintaining a warm and conversational read. Mieko has narrated 14 titles and is a connoisseur of the weird and offbeat, and she loves YA, SFF, and Romance titles of all kinds. When she's not narrating or working on her own YA novel, Mieko loves researching true crime, cosplaying, and curling up with a book, her cat, and a cup of coffee.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Zana on March 20, 2025

She did not, in fact, eat the rich. I really, really wanted to like this. It had an amazing start, with a very visceral, repulsive scene with Brielle cooking cow brain egg scramble for her mother, while resisting the urge to eat the brain raw. If I had to describe this scene in food terms, it was wel......more

Goodreads review by Kezia on April 10, 2025

3.5⭐️ The authors really said, “Let’s shed light on the immigrant experience, but make it zombies!” HA! I love it.😝 What’s even more interesting is that it’s not the typical zombies we’re used to. oh no no no. it leans more into the original concept rooted in Haitian culture… the more you know, right......more

Goodreads review by Horror on October 22, 2024

This rich and deeply impactful novel deals with wealth and class disparities while delving into a much overlooked culture. I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about this book but will only give the basics for this review because it's one of those books where the less you know going in the more ple......more

Goodreads review by Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) on March 22, 2025

Okay, so this is not really horror in the way it presents itself to be. Barely. But I do think it's a good book if you go in with the right expectations. I do wish this had gone harder with the concept and really leaned into the potential horror elements. It could have been amazing. But let's talk a......more

Goodreads review by Me, My Shelf, & I on March 23, 2025

This was definitely a fun YA with eat-the-rich vibes, though admittedly it was a lot less zombie/Fantasy elements than I thought there'd be, and I wouldn't even say a dusting of Horror. Very Contemporary with like magical realism vibes. TL;DR the synopsis and my expectations do NOT fit the book, but......more

Quotes

"Brielle’s fluidly rendered narration and the novel’s ambitious premise result in a captivating look at one immigrant family’s experience via a fantasy lens." —Publishers Weekly

“The Moulite Sisters have created a character like no other in Brielle, an ambitious, compassionate, flesh-hungry aspiring chef who happens to be a teen zonbi. Brimming with biting commentary about survival while subverting stereotypes, this story challenges notions of who gets to consume and who gets consumed. The Summer I Ate the Rich is a delectable meal of a story, served up with a side of culture, romance, and revenge.” -Ibi Zoboi, New York Times Bestselling Author

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