“Writing this way gave me freedom to share emotional truths that writing a memoir never could,” says the author of ‘How to Murder Your Life’
Credit: Courtesy of Cat Marnell; Crown
NEED TO KNOW
- PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the cover of Cat Marnell’s debut novel The Bored and the Beautiful
- The autobiographical story follows Dizzy, a media personality who navigates an alluring relationship in 2012 New York
- “I feel deeply connected to Dizzy because so much of her emotional journey comes from my own,” the author says
A 2010’s it-girl meets her match in Cat Marnell’s debut novel.
The writer and media personality will publish her sophomore book, The Bored and the Beautiful, next year through Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
The novel, for which PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the cover, centers on Dizzy Calatrava, a downtown writer with “a tabloid presence, a narcotics habit and a tendency to treat New York City like her own private paradise,” per the book’s synopsis.
Constantly drifting between parties and stints in rehab, Dizzy finds a kindred spirit in Editor-In-Chief, a fellow media figure with a habit of bad behavior. But their similar personalities may lead toward their mutual destruction.
Credit: Crown
Marnell is also the author of the buzzy 2017 memoir How to Murder Your Life, which covered her time in New York City’s downtown scene, her media career at outlets like Lucky and VICE, and her struggles with addiction. She describes The Bored and the Beautiful as “autobiographical fiction” that blends “fiction and fantasy.”
“[The book’s] protagonist, Dizzy, is a celebrated New York City writer struggling with drug dependency. Like many women in their thirties, she longs for intimacy, connection and lasting love,” Marnell says. “But for a woman living with addiction, finding — and holding onto — those things is far more complicated than it seems.”
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“I feel deeply connected to Dizzy because so much of her emotional journey comes from my own,” Marnell continues. “I’m now three-and-a-half years clean and sober, and I sometimes look back on my 25 years of active addiction like that wild person was a cartoon version of myself. So, in my mind, as I was writing a novel, Dizzy was my cartoon character.”
Credit: Courtesy of Cat Marnell
But writing fiction proved to be even more cathartic than nonfiction, the author explains.
“In a weird way, writing this way gave me freedom to share emotional truths that writing a memoir never could,” Marnell says. “All in all, this is the most raw, scary, personal and vulnerable story I’ve ever told. This novel explores the darkest moments of my life with compassion, humor and honesty. It also depicts the happiest.”
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The Bored and the Beautiful will be published on Feb. 2, 2027 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
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