Rose Dommu + Harron Walker: Best Woman

Join us for a launch event with author and podcast host, Rose Dommu, discussing her debut novel Best Woman. Joining Rose in conversation is author Harron Walker. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA-compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at ZXZlbnRzIHwgc3RyYW5kYm9va3MgISBjb20= by Sept. 9 to request.

Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

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The "best woman" in her brother's wedding tells a little white lie in her quest to get the girl—her lifelong crush and the maid of honor—in this wildly entertaining debut novel about bad decisions and life's messiest transitions.

Julia Rosenberg loves her brother. Really loves him. Enough to: be the "best woman" at his wedding; leave behind her hard-won New York life, brilliant best friends, and drag brunches for Boca Raton, Florida; entertain the uptight bride-to-be and her vicious cronies; try (and fail) to dodge the hometown hookup buddy she can’t resist; and navigate the tricky dynamics with her divorced parents.

She’s not that nervous. Her family stood by her when she came out as a woman a few years ago. And it’s just one week in Florida—a week of old memories and sisterly duties that will force Julia to confront the tensions that have been bubbling beneath the surface of her closest relationships. No big deal.

When it turns out that Kim Cameron, the gorgeous, self-assured girl that she crushed hard on in high school, is the maid of honor, Julia panics. She tells a teensy little lie to win Kim's favor—a lie that snowballs out of her control and threatens to undermine the blossoming attraction between them and complicate an already challenging relationship with her family. Using her wit, charm, and a suitcase full of couture "borrowed" from a pop star, Julia just might survive the horde of clone-like bridesmaids, go-kart racing bachelor parties, and alcohol-fueled speeches. But she won’t make it out unscathed. As best woman, she's making the worst decisions of her life.

An utterly contemporary sendup of My Best Friend's Wedding and a riotous coming-of-age novel, Best Woman is rife with crackling wit and devastating poignancy and announces Rose Dommu as an exciting new voice in fiction.

Rose Dommu is the author of the Substack newsletter Mall Goth and host of the podcast Like a Virgin. Dommu previously managed LGBTQ+ social media editorial strategy at Netflix. A former senior staff writer at Out magazine, Rose also hosted the magazine's podcast, The Outcast. As a journalist, she has written for Paper, Vice, Them, Gay Times, Elite Daily, and other publications. She is the co-founder of the queer art collective The Culture Whore, which staged large-scale art events across the United States and Europe. Dommu lives in Brooklyn with her alarmingly large collection of shoes.

Photo credit: Marc McAndrews

Harron Walker is the author of Aggregated Discontent: Confessions of the Last Normal Woman. She is a contributor to MOTHA's Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects and Sex Change & the City, a forthcoming anthology from Girl Dad Press. Her work has appeared in New York, Interview, GQ, Out, and other publications.

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