“A coming-of-age, romantic comedy, and dazzling ode to friendship all in one.” —Cat Shook, author of If We're Being HonestAbout this Event
Event guidelines:
- All attendees are strongly encouraged to wear a face mask at all times.
- Tickets are limited to restrict capacity at our store, and each ticket will include either a copy of the featured book or a $10 Books Are Magic gift card.
- Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
- A signing will follow the talk.
- Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
- The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/IN8Jut6Aqk4
- As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.
If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].
Set in a single summer across three distinct weekends—weekends in which old friends rent a Fire Island share house called Serendipity—the story of one woman's clumsy but hopeful reentrance to the high school friend group (and sweetheart) she left behind when she chased her dreams from New York to Los Angeles and forgot to look back.
It’s been five years since Maggie James followed her screenwriting dreams to Los Angeles. But things in Hollywood didn’t go quite to plan. Now, suddenly, she’s back home in New York, and some of the high school friends Maggie abruptly left behind are more willing than others to welcome her back into the fold. Maggie doesn’t know who she’s more anxious to see: her ex, Mac, or her ex-best friend, Liz.
For Liz, Maggie—the girl who abandoned her at the worst possible moment—is the unwelcome surprise that could derail her perfect summer. Liz is recently engaged to her high school sweetheart Cam, but Maggie’s arrival has old wounds bubbling to the surface, exposing the cracks in Liz’s perfect-to-plan life.
Maggie accepts the invitation to get in on the group’s Fire Island share house, named Serendipity. For three weekends this summer, this tight knit group (+ Maggie) will descend on Fire Island for a few days of the sunny bliss that can only exist in those sepia-toned, Polaroid-captured, mid-twenties summers. And while the old hurts of Maggie’s departure have left deep scars, if Maggie is going to chart a new path forward, she’ll realize that she'll need the people who have loved her longest. The question is, for Mac and Maggie, and Maggie and Liz… is it possible to find their way back to each other after all this time?
Becky Chalsen is a film/TV development executive at the production company Sunday Night. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and now lives in New York City. Becky is a quadruplet and married to her high school sweetheart -- an identical twin -- whose family has spent summers on Fire Island for more than three decades.
Iman Hariri-Kia is a writer, editor, and author born and based in New York City. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and an award-winning journalist, she covers sex, relationships, identity, and adolescence. Her work has appeared in Vogue, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, and more. Her debut novel, A Hundred Other Girls, was published in July 2022 to critical acclaim. Her sophomore novel, The Most Famous Girl In The World, will be published in September 2024 and is available for pre-order.
Event Venue
Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, United States
USD 10.00 to USD 18.00
