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  • Published: 26 March 2024
  • ISBN: 9781804991916
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $22.99

Romantic Comedy




Curtis Sittenfeld's most popular novel yet, her breakout new Sunday Times bestseller and reader favourite,

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

'A hilarious, sweet, smart read that you're going to love!' REESE WITHERSPOON
'A rollercoaster of modern love and dating' STYLIST
'Biting, pacy, great fun' SUNDAY TIMES

A TV script writer thinks she's done with romance, until an unlikely love interest upends all her assumptions: a humorous, sharp and tender novel from the bestselling author of Eligible, American Wife and Prep.
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Life is (not)* a Romantic Comedy...

After a series of heartbreaks, Sally Milz - successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show - has long abandoned the search for love.

But when her friend and fellow writer begins to date a glamorous actress, he joins the growing club of interesting but average-looking men who get romantically involved with accomplished, beautiful women.

Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch, poking fun at this 'social rule'. The reverse never happens for a woman.

Then Sally meets Noah, a pop idol with a reputation for dating models. But this isn't a romantic comedy - it's real life.

Would someone like him ever date someone like her?

Skewering all our certainties about why we fall in love, ROMANTIC COMEDY is a witty and probing tale of how the heart will follow itself, no matter what anyone says. It is Curtis Sittenfeld at her most sharp, daring and compassionate best.
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WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

'This book is heavenly. i just had a hilariously enjoyable masterclass in writing' *****
'Hilarious and screwball and warm' *****
'A book that helps transport you away' *****
'She makes the characters much more real than ordinary romcoms*****


Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, April 2023
Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick, April 2023

  • Published: 26 March 2024
  • ISBN: 9781804991916
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Curtis Sittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld pulls no punches in her scathing and hilarious indictments of the American middle classes. Her Sunday Times bestselling novel American Wife was longlisted for the Orange Prize, as was her debut novel Prep. Her other books include The Man of My Dreams, Sisterland, Eligible, the acclaimed short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It and her latest novel Rodham. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Oprah Magazine and the New York Times magazine. Sittenfeld is also the guest editor for the 2020 Best American Short Stories anthology. She lives with her family in the American Mid-West. Follow her on Twitter @CSittenfeld

Also by Curtis Sittenfeld

See all

Praise for Romantic Comedy

No-one writes romantic yearning as brilliantly and believably as Curtis Sittenfeld. I could not have adored this book more.

DAISY BUCHANAN, author of INSATIABLE

A rollercoaster of modern love and dating

STYLIST, Books to look forward to in 2023

Probably my favourite proof I've read for 2023, by one of my all-time favourite authors Curtis Sittenfeld... it's a brilliantly written, funny page-turner, I want to read it all again.

PANDORA SYKES

Biting, pacy and great fun.

SUNDAY TIMES, Books to Look Forward to

A gloriously quick-witted, intelligent love story, with sparkling dialogue and a satisfying plot

THE BOOKSELLER

I am obsessed with this book. A warm, wise, magnanimous and extremely funny novel which made me fall in love with the characters and feel happier about life. Sittenfeld writes with such insight and poignancy about the quirks of the human condition. ROMANTIC COMEDY should be prescribed to anyone needing their mood lifted

ELIZABETH DAY

One of the most compelling, funny and gorgeous novels I've read in a long time. Curtis Sittenfield is a master of dialogue, and this love story packs serious emotional heft that will leave you rooting for its characters right til the very end.

OTEGHA UWAGBA

I love Curtis Sittenfeld

BRYONY GORDON

i am excited beyond belief. This is THE literary event of the year for me

MARINA HYDE

Curtis has a gift for writing women. Her characters spill off the page in all their messy, complex glory

STYLIST

Curtis Sittenfeld's zingy new novel tackles media celebrity, the pandemic and romantic frustration with ambition and panache...[An] affable, intelligently crafted tale of work and love

OBSERVER

A witty, joyful, propulsive new take on the 'celebrity and the civilian' trope, Sittenfeld's novel feels like a classic dish prepared by a master chef and using only the freshest ingredients. I was so sad to say goodbye to these characters; I could have read 300 more pages, easily

CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE

The abiding pleasure of romantic comedy is that we can worry that they won't while knowing that they will. The genre acts as its own spoiler alert while somehow never lessening the suspense

WASHINGTON POST

Her zingy new novel. While Sittenfeld knows the dramatic value of putting obstacles in the path of characters you're rooting for, she also isn't above giving readers what they want - and that's exactly what she does in this affable, intelligently-crafted tale of work and love

GUARDIAN

A thoughtful discourse on celebrity

THE TIMES

Smart, funny and a fascinating look behind the scenes of a sketch show, it's another exquisitely written novel from Sittenfeld

WOMAN & HOME

[An] exhilarating love story that will restore your faith in humanity

RED

Smart, funny, and a fascinating look behind the scenes of a sketch show. Exquisite

WOMAN & HOME

Getting inside a living person's head sounds like a colossally bad idea, but Sittenfeld makes it convincing here, just as she did with a character based on First Lady Laura Bush in her 2008 novel, American Wife

BBC CULTURE

A new novel from one of my very favourite writers...Bliss!

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

If anyone who can simultaneously skewer and revere the underappreciated rom com genre it's the author of Prep and Eligible

THE I-NEWS

Expect lots of laughs and dry irony

DAILY EXPRESS

Sittenfeld's well-crafted will-they-won't-they tale pairs irresistible escapism with equally satisfying observational expertise

MAIL ON SUNDAY

Curtis Sittenfeld has made a name for herself by writing reliably smart, funny romantic heroines. Her new novel makes it official with a refreshingly irreverent take on the genre. Very funny

DAILY EXPRESS

Like all the best romantic comedies, the tension lies in the will-they-won't-they back and forth of the story arc and true to all the best examples of the genre, readers will be rooting for Sally to have her much-deserved happy-ever-after

MARIE-CLAIRE, BEST BOOKS OF 2023

Scapel-sharp

DAILY MAIL

Witty and sharp

BELLA MAGAZINE

Smart, sophisticated and fun

OPRAH DAILY

Delightful. The woman narrating ROMANTIC COMEDY is hyper-aware of the conventions of romantic comedy, and she knows full well that real life is no fairytale. But could it be this time?

WASHINGTON POST

Sittenfeld's latest takes a shot of SNL and makes sparks fly

ELLE

Hilarious, heartwarming

HARPER'S BAZAAR

If you're looking for a romance with edge, this book is for you. The writing is as intelligent and funny as you'd expect from the author of classics such as American Wife and it's a properly swoonsome love story

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Cancel plans and dive into bestselling author Sittenfeld's hilarious take on the classic will-they-won't-they storyline

ELLE

Written by one of the very best out there, Romantic Comedy is a novel that you won't want to put down and one you'll want to recommend to everyone you know

GLAMOUR

An enthralling, humorous and subversive tale set in the world of a live TV comedy show

STYLIST

Whip-smart, funny and a fascinating look behind the scenes of a sketch show. Curtis Sittenfeld has penned another exquisitely written novel

WOMAN'S WEEKLY

A piercing look at the genre of Romcom set against the backdrop of a Saturday Night Live-esque TV show - a rollercoaster of modern love and dating

STYLIST

I ate it up whole. Joyful

EVA WISEMAN, OBSERVER

Get lost in a modern romantic fantasy

DAILY RECORD

A humorous take on Hollywood romcoms

BBC BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Sittenfeld's novel continues her wider project of exploring the possibility for a kind of redemptive idealism within our flawed world

GUARDIAN

Sittenfeld has penned another exquisitely written novel

WOMAN MAGAZINE

A fizzy love letter to the prototypical romcom

NEW YORK TIMES, Editor's Choice

So much of Sittenfeld's work exists in the dissection and comprehension of female desire

NEW YORK TIMES

Flirting with the tropes of its namesake genre, this playful novel follows Sally, a writer on an "S.N.L."-like show called "Night Owls," who falls in love with one of its guest hosts. Their relationship develops via e-mail in the post-grocery-wiping, pre-vaccine days of covid-19. When Sally decides to visit her beloved in L.A., their time together in his Topanga mansion requires her to navigate incredulity, insecurity, and an offer that she feels is an "affront to my independence." The novel is preoccupied with the instinctual nature of self-sabotage, and with the fulfillment that can come from defying ingrained impulses

NEW YORKER

Insightful romcom sparkles with real wit and wisdom

SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

Whip smart and really funny

BUSINESS POST

Scores big on giving readers an insight into the machinations of a TV writers-room

CRACK

Full of dazzling banter and sizzling chemistry

PEOPLE MAGAZINE

If you ever wanted a backstage pass to Saturday Night Live, this book is for you

GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Excellent

MAIL ON SUNDAY

Both a brilliant portrait of the comedy world and a witty grown-up love story. Lives up to its name

IRISH TIMES

Sexy, funny, thought-provoking and everything I hoped it would be. Her best novel since American Wife.

RED, Best Books of the Year

Romantic Comedy combines humour with poignancy and a lot of heart.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Best romance books to read

A funny and tender romcom with a difference

PRIMA MAGAZINE

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