Rainbow Rowell has a new novel coming in 2026.
Morrow will publish the author’s Cherry Baby next spring, the press announced in a news release. It calls the book “Rowell’s richest, most ambitious—sexiest—novel yet.”
Rowell made her literary debut in 2011 with the romance novel Attachments. The following year, she published her first young adult novel, Eleanor & Park, about two awkward teenagers who fall in love in 1980s Omaha; in a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Funny, hopeful, foulmouthed, sexy, and tear-jerking, this winning romance will captivate teen and adult readers alike.” The novel won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for fiction and was named a Michael L. Printz Award honor book by the American Library Association.
Rowell’s other novels include Fangirl, Landline, Carry On, Wayward Son, and, most recently, Slow Dance, published last year.
Cherry Baby will follow Cherry, an Omaha woman whose husband is in Los Angeles working on a film adaptation of his webcomic, which features a character named Baby, based on Cherry. Unhappy with the characterization of her in the comic, Cherry reconnects with an old friend, Russ, at a concert featuring her favorite band.
“Told with deep tenderness and shot through with Rowell's signature wit—this is a second-chance romance for grown-ups,” the publisher says. “For people who understand how rare it is to get even one chance at love, and how impossible it can feel to make it work.”
Cherry Baby is scheduled for publication on April 14, 2026.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
