Emma Straub American Fantasy

Annotation

Annie is on a journey straight back to her past. 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 women who have worshipped them since their youth. 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, she now feels out of place amid the sea of bedazzling t-shirts bearing the singers faces. Yet when the lights go down, the cocktails are poured and the band starts singing, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. As she encounters Keith, the band s slightly depressed, fifty-something lead singer not just a celebrity but someone clearly in need of a friend she feels like anything is possible. But is the connection between Annie and Keith just a fantasy? Or is this the beginning of a new chapter for them both? Full of laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, nostalgia, marriage and growing up, American Fantasy celebrates the magic of revisiting our youth, and the even greater magic of starting anew.