Why we’re excited
A Los Angeles novelist, settled at last, looks up an old lover online and learns he took his own life. She cannot tell her husband, since that affair nearly broke them, and a book tour is days away. So she hides out in a Westwood branch of Ralphs, where flirty notes that seem to come from beyond the grave start turning up between the aisles.
Broder has made grief, longing and the absurd her territory in The Pisces, Death Valley and Milk Fed, and her deadpan humour leads here too. It suits readers who like literary fiction funny, strange and frank about desire.
On our most-anticipated list since 28 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about Empty and Marvelous
We haven’t reviewed Melissa Broder before, so this would be our first look at their work.
From the publisher
From the beloved, bestselling author of Milk Fed and Death Valley, a darkly comedic novel about existential anxiety, angels, and Ralphs supermarket—a picaresque of the psyche turned tale of supernatural eros.
A writer in Los Angeles dares think “All is well.” With this newfound serenity, she allows herself to search online for Emil, the ex she barricaded from her life. She is shocked to discover that her intoxicating former flame—the inspiration for her cult-classic erotic novel, The Pegasus—has died by suicide. The writer must keep the revelation a secret from her husband, because her romance with Emil almost ended their once-open marriage. She can’t share it with her publisher, who expects her to go on tour in a matter of days (to the delight of anxious teens with their own questions about life). And given the dangerous window that Emil’s death blows open on her own depression, the writer is determined not to face it. There’s only one place she feels safe, connected to humanity and the spark of the the Westwood branch of Ralphs supermarket. And when she begins receiving ethereal messages among the meatstuffs and produce, sublime sexts that seem to be coming from Emil in angel form, the writer discovers that she wants to live. But only inside the supermarket.
Empty and Marvelous is a brazenly funny, cathartic, mystically lustful novel about a woman grappling with her existence. As she contends with grief, secret pleasure, and a crisis of faith, we Do cosmic threads exist between people? What is the responsibility of an artist to her fans? And can angels actually sext? A love letter to readers, the Muses, and the cereal aisle, Empty and Marvelous is a marvel.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read Empty and Marvelous yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
