Emma Straub: Cobble Hill's Bookstore-Owning Novelist
- Marina Aris
- Jul 15
- 3 min read
A note from our founder
Our eighth tribute in this new chapter goes to a novelist who didn't just write about her Brooklyn community, she built a gathering place for it. Emma Straub has spent her career chronicling family life with warmth and precision, and she's spent the last several years running one of the borough's most beloved bookstores.
A Brooklyn Upbringing, A Literary Inheritance
Emma Straub was born in 1980 and raised in New York City, the daughter of the late, celebrated horror novelist Peter Straub. She attended Oberlin College and went on to earn her MFA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, arriving at her own literary voice from inside a family that already knew what a writing life looked like.
Warmth With Teeth
Straub is known for sharp, compassionate, often very funny examinations of family dynamics, aging, romantic evolution, and the general messiness of contemporary adult life. Her novels are frequently praised for their warmth and emotional readability, smuggling real human friction in under the sunlit disguise of the classic "beach read."
Books Are Magic
Straub is also a passionate advocate for independent bookselling. In 2017, after the closure of the neighborhood's longtime favorite, BookCourt, Straub and her husband, Michael Fusco-Straub, opened Books Are Magic in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The store quickly became a beloved neighborhood hub, eventually expanding to a second location in Brooklyn Heights. She has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and continues to live in Brooklyn with her family and a famously sprawling personal book collection.
Bibliography
Fiction
Other People We Married (2011) — Her debut collection of witty, poignant short stories exploring the vulnerabilities of relationships, marriages, and identity.
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures (2012) — A sweeping historical novel tracing the transformation of a small-town girl from Wisconsin into a glamorous starlet during Hollywood's Golden Age.
The Vacationers (2014) — A breakout, bestselling family comedy set over a two-week vacation in Mallorca, unpacking a web of secrets, infidelity, and teenage angst.
Modern Lovers (2016) — Set in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, this novel follows former college bandmates navigating middle age, passion, and the evolving lives of their own teenage children.
All Adults Here (2020) — A warm, multi-generational family saga exploring small-town dynamics, parenting regrets, modern queer identity, and the messy process of growing up at any age.
This Time Tomorrow (2022) — A poignant, inventive story blending realistic midlife anxiety with a time-travel twist, as a woman wakes up on her 40th birthday back in 1996 as her 16-year-old self.
American Fantasy (2026) — An uplifting, deeply insightful novel centering on a divorced empty-nester who takes a 1990s boyband-themed cruise ship voyage, rediscovering her sense of identity and youth.
Children's Picture Books
Very Good Hats (2023) — A whimsical, highly imaginative children's book celebrating the idea that anything can be a hat if you believe it is.
Gaga Mistake Day (2024) — Co-written with her mother, Susan Straub; a delightful, silly look at the playful, creative chaos of grandparent visits.
Mama Hug (2025) — A sweet, rhyming picture book capturing the warm, comforting dynamics of parental love and cuddles.
READ STRAUB
Start with Modern Lovers to see Brooklyn itself on the page, or The Vacationers if you'd rather ease in with the book that made her a household name. And if you're ever in Cobble Hill, stop by Books Are Magic — there's a decent chance you'll find her there too. Get the book.
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