Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kindred Spirits | 2016 | Rainbow Rowell | Buy |
| 2 | If the Fates Allow | 2021 | Rainbow Rowell | Buy |
| 3 | In Waiting | 2023 | Rainbow Rowell | Buy |
Kindred Spirits was published as a World Book Day short story in 2016, and it is classic Rowell territory: a girl named Elena queues up alone to see The Force Awakens on opening night, expecting to be surrounded by fellow fans, and instead has to navigate the surprisingly complicated social world of a line outside a cinema. It is small in scope but gets at something real about fandom and the gap between what you imagine an experience will be and what it actually is.
If the Fates Allow (2021) brings back Reagan, the outspoken roommate from Fangirl, and sets her in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The story uses the real-world setting to explore Reagan as an adult, several years on from the events of the novel, and finds Rowell writing with characteristic precision about how relationships survive distance and disruption.
In Waiting (2023) is the most unusual of the three: a metafictional story about characters who exist in a kind of waiting room while their author figures out how to write them. It is a departure from Rowell’s usual realism, but it shares the same quality of care for character interiority that runs through all her work.