American Fantasy
Emma Straub

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Published: 2026

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.

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