Two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in this sparkling novel of love, friendship, and chosen family in a fractured America,...

Two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in this sparkling novel of love, friendship, and chosen family in a fractured America, by the award-winning author of The Third Rainbow Girl

"A wise, beautiful, and gorgeously gay exploration of America, art, and the rugged, vast country that is love itself."--Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different

A Most Anticipated Book of 2024: Lit Hub, Debutiful, LGBTQ Reads, The Rumpus, Lilith, Hey Alma, Them

What does it feel like, standing in the moments that will mark your life?

When Bernie replies to Leah's ad for a new housemate in Philadelphia, the two begin an intense and defiantly uncategorizable friendship based on a mutual belief in their art, and one another. Both aspire to capture the world around them: Leah through her writing; Bernie through her photography.

After Bernie's former photography professor, the renowned yet tarnished Daniel Dunn, dies and leaves her a complicated inheritance, Leah volunteers to accompany Bernie to his home in rural Pennsylvania, turning the jaunt into a road trip with an ambitious mission: to document America through words and photographs.

What ensues is a journey into the heart of the nation, bringing the housemates into conversation with people from all walks of life--"the absurd dreamers and failures of this wide, wide country"-- as they try to make sense of the times they are living in. Along the way, Leah and Bernie discover what it means to chase their own ideas and dreams, and to embrace what they are capable of both romantically and artistically.

Warm and insightful, Housemates is a story of youth and freedom--a glorious celebration of queer life, and how art and love might save us all.

Author: Emma Copley Eisenberg
Publisher: Hogarth Press
Published: 05/28/2024
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.70w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780593242230


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2024
Publishers Weekly 03/04/2024

About the Author
Emma Copley Eisenberg is a queer writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her first book, The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia, was named a New York Times Notable Book and was nominated for an Edgar Award, a Lambda Literary Award, and an Anthony Award, among other honors. Her fiction has appeared in Granta, McSweeney's, VQR, American Short Fiction, and other publications. Raised in New York City, she lives in Philadelphia, where she co-founded Blue Stoop, a community hub for the literary arts.