Description

Annie is:

On a cruise with her one-time favourite boyband and a thousand female super-fans
Still reeling from her divorce
Being replaced at work by her intern

Keith is:

Fifty years old and in a band that performs dance routines with hip thrusts
Suffering from sea sickness
Certain his wife doesn’t love him anymore

When a meet-and-greet throws them together, Annie develops a crush on Keith, and Keith starts to wonder if life might have a few surprises in store for him.

But are Keith and Annie just living a fantasy? And what happens when they get back to shore?

Publisher Review

American Fantasy is such a fun, delicious, big-hearted book. -- Taylor Jenkins Reid I can hardly remember the last time I read anything that brought me such pure joy. I was up too late reading, then got up too early to go back to reading. All I wanted was American Fantasy. It brims with truth and humanity and insight, and it made me snort like a pig. I loved it. I think the entire country will love it. -- Ann Patchett Wow, who knew that what my life was missing was a book about boats and boybands?! This is a treasure chest of a story, filled with Straub's signature warmth, humour, compassion and insight. I rooted for these characters and worried about them, and by the end, much like the Talkers, I was completely swept away by my love for them. An unmitigated pleasure from start to finish. I did not want to return to dry land! -- Coco Mellors So much fun but with such depth to the characters. Looking at midlife through Annie's lens is a buoying experience. Even though it's super accurate about the reckonings of mid-life, the tone is blithe and hopeful, and that is so NEEDED right now. I can't TELL you the enjoyment it gave me. -- Marian Keyes Peak intelligence and criminally readable -- Maria Semple A delicious novel about being a grown-up girl who once loved something very, very much. You don't have to be a fan of something to love American Fantasy, but if you've ever truly devoted yourself to a boy band or a TV show or even a series of books, you will feel so understood by this novel. -- Rainbow Rowell American Fantasy is written by Emma Straub, so obviously it is poignant, nuanced and unexpectedly hilarious. I didn't know how badly I needed to be fully transported to a boy band cruise ship. Cheaper than therapy, and a lot more fun! -- Holly Brickley Emma Straub is the most empathetic and open-hearted writer in literature. It is pure joy to see her turn to the emotionally complicated territory of teenage nostalgia and what it means to reconnect with the feelings of youth from the realities of middle age. In American Fantasy Straub uncovers the beauty and regret of reconciling who we once were with who we are now. -- Kevin Wilson Straub writes with such verve and sympathetic understanding of her characters . . . Reading this novel has all the pleasures of reading one of Anne Tyler's compelling family portraits * New York Times * Straub writes beautifully and amusingly . . . hard to beat for sheer charm and gentle wit * Daily Mail *