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Ten Lives

How What We Have Shapes Who We Are
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Ten Lives

By: Mona Chalabi
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A revelatory exploration of the ways in which wealth – and the lack of it – shapes our lives, told through the stories of ten people, from award-winning data journalist and artist Mona Chalabi.

Anna has a comfortable life thanks to her husband – until he asks for a divorce. Kristina faces a choice between raising her child and finishing her degree; growing other people’s babies affords her a way out. Tiffany, meanwhile, earns so little that the farm which is her greatest reassurance is also her greatest stress. Then there’s Jacob: he earns vast sums in finance, yet he's less concerned about what he has than what he could lose. Ten people, ten different incomes – all somehow afraid.

For five years, Mona Chalabi followed their lives, documenting how wealth shaped their feelings, choices, identities and insecurities. Exposing our various delusions and our universal trappedness, Ten Lives asks how much is actually enough to be – and feel – safe? And can we ever know how much we need, or what we owe one another, until we are more honest about what we have?

‘The most vivid and readable exploration of the wealth gap I’ve ever read’ BRIAN ENO

‘I lapped Ten Lives up – a fascinating, compelling read’ KATHY BURKE

‘Astonishing. I was rivetted from start to finish’ ALISON BECHDEL

© Mona Chalabi 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Americas Anthropology Social Classes & Economic Disparity Sociology United States
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Reviews

This book explores how deeply relevant inequality is - how it moulds our minds and bends our moralities. It's the most vivid and readable exploration of the wealth gap I’ve ever read. Anyone who cares about a better future should read this (BRIAN ENO)
An astonishing book. Chalabi’s taboo-busting transparency about peoples’ financial lives is revolutionary enough. But it’s the pellucid clarity of her data visualizations that will really change how you see things. I was riveted from start to finish (ALISON BECHDEL)
As a lifelong arithmophobic, I didn’t think a book full of stats, graphs and data would interest me – but I lapped Ten Lives up in two sittings. Mona Chalabi’s writing is captivating, and her data illustrations are both beautiful and demystifying. A fascinating, compelling read (KATHY BURKE)
Mona Chalabi transforms raw data into a deeply human tapestry. Ten Lives is a fresh, creative and extraordinarily moving unpicking of our relationship with money. It cuts through the shame and silence surrounding class, income and wealth to deliver a clarion call for honesty and connection (KATE PICKETT, author of The Good Society)
This [is a] brilliant, essential and riveting book, which I guarantee will be like nothing else you have read
Mona Chalabi reveals with frank, engaging precision what we're all really wondering about. Utterly satisfying, informative and funny (LIANA FINCK, author of Let There Be Light)
Chalabi has a rare ability to tease out the human stories buried within data to illuminate uncomfortable societal truths (TESSA HULLS, author of Feeding Ghosts)
Mona Chalabi turns economic analysis into gripping human drama. Eye-opening, infuriating and visually sumptuous (LAUREN REDNISS, author of Oak Flat)
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