Emma Straub with Alison Espach at An Unlikely Story – Plainville, MA

Join us for an exciting evening with Emma Straub! Emma is a New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow, and we can’t wait to celebrate the release of her newest, American Fantasy! Emma will be in conversation with Alison Espach, bestselling author of The Wedding People.

American Fantasy is an irresistible story about what happens when your teenage fantasy comes true after you’re already an adult. Packed with wisdom, heart, and laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, youth, nostalgia, marriage, and middle age, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured, uplifting story about the magic of revisiting youthful feelings, and the even greater magic of starting anew.

Emma owns Books Are Magic, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.

Tickets for this event will be bundled with a copy of American Fantasy that Emma will sign at the event. Tickets are required for this event. We hope to see you there!

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please reach out to events@anunlikelystory.com.

Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at An Unlikely Story up to 30 days following the event.

About American Fantasy:

When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous 1990s boyband, and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them for thirty years.

Newly divorced and with an empty nest, Annie is on board as a lark to appease her sister. Once a diehard fan of the band as a teen, her tastes have matured, and she feels out of place amid the sea of bedazzled, air-brushed t-shirts bearing the singers’ faces. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing before her, something is unlocked. “Maybe that was nostalgia after all, the music a direct vein to her childhood, the least complicated part of her life. A short cut to happiness.” Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the music of her youth, and the thousands of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she befriends one of the band members — not just a celebrity but someone also in need of a friend — she feels like anything is possible. But a lot can go wrong on a ship ruled by hormones and hope, frustration and fantasy.

About the Author:

Emma Straub is the New York Times bestselling author of six books for adults: the novels This Time Tomorrow, All Adults Here, The Vacationers, Modern Lovers, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, and the short story collection Other People We Married. She is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and her work has been published in more than 20 languages. Emma and her husband own Books Are Magic, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.

Alison Espach is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, a Barnes and Noble Book Club Pick, and a #1 Indie Next Pick. The Wedding People spent several dozen weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list and will be published in over 35 countries. She is also the author of Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, a Chicago Tribune and NPR “Best Book of the Year,” as well as The Adults, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Barnes and Noble Discover Pick. Her fictional audio series In-Depth Market Research Interviews with Dead People is an Audible Original. She has written for McSweeney’s, Vogue, Outside, LitHub, Joyland and other places. She lives and teaches creative writing in Rhode Island.