Cherry Baby

by Rainbow Rowell ★★★★☆

I didn’t realize until after I read Cherry Baby that the author, Rainbow Rowell, had previously written two YA novels I really enjoyed. The first was Eleanor & Park (2012), which follows two “star-crossed misfit” high schoolers who bond over comics and music while navigating first love in 1986 Omaha. I also read Fangirl (2013), a quirky novel about an introverted college freshman navigating family struggles and a budding romance while learning to step outside her comfort zone and move beyond her obsessive devotion to online fan fiction. I found both books surprisingly delightful. While doing a little research, I also learned that Rowell has recently been writing comics, including She-Hulk for Marvel Comics, as well as her own graphic novel, Pumpkinheads.

All of this comes together in her most recent novel, Cherry Baby (2026). While definitely an adult novel, it centers on thirty-six-year-old Cherry, who, like the protagonists in Rowell’s earlier work, is facing a major life transition: in this case separation from her husband, Tom. Rowell draws on her comics background in crafting Tom as the creator of the increasingly popular semi-autobiographical comic Thursday, which has expanded into graphic novels and is now being adapted into a movie. As Cherry struggles to move on from the man who has been her steady partner for years, she finds herself increasingly recognized as “Baby,” the character based on her from Thursday.

"'Baby.' Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby. Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page—let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize Cherry at the grocery store..."

Cherry and Tom are headed toward divorce. He has gone to California, while she remains behind, caring for the house they decorated together and looking after their behemoth of a dog, Stevie Nicks, whom she never really wanted. The novel follows Cherry as she tries to reclaim her identity as Cherry—not Baby—and as a newly single woman reconnecting with a college crush and friend, Russ, who has never even heard of Thursday.  

That description roughly matches how the book has been marketed. I expected a straightforward story about Cherry rediscovering herself and moving on. The reality is more complicated. The novel begins with Cherry reconnecting with Russ, but as it unfolds, we repeatedly flash back to the early years of Cherry and Tom’s relationship, to the point where it becomes difficult to know which of the two men you’re supposed to root for.  

What remains constant, however, is that you do root for Cherry. Rowell does a skillful job building her character. There’s depth to her story: she now works as a successful railroad executive after starting out as a creative in advertising. She still expresses her artistic side through the carefully curated décor of the home she shared with Tom—complete with hand-painted details—as well as through her elaborate retro and pin-up-inspired outfits, impeccable makeup, and perfectly styled hair. Throughout the novel, there is also a strong focus on Cherry’s weight, and that theme shapes her relationship with herself, the men in her life, and her plus-sized sisters.  

"Cherry was actually fat. Objectively. And she knew it. She could say it out loud. She didn’t hide from it. Cherry came from a long line of fat women. (There were three fat women lighting up her cell phone right now.) She’d been a fat kid, then a fat teenager, and now she was a fat lady. She knew how she looked, how people saw her—she thought about it constantly...."  

Rowell embraces Cherry’s weight just as fully as she embraces every other aspect of her character. Cherry comes across as deeply real: someone struggling with insecurities and disappointments while still wanting the best for herself and from the people she loves. The book ultimately veers away from what I expected based on the publicity, and while that worked in many ways, I also found myself emotionally bounced around by the story’s back-and-forth structure. So much of the novel is about Cherry distinguishing herself from Baby, and as long as the story keeps Cherry at its center, it succeeds.  

It’s been quite a while since I read either Eleanor & Park or Fangirl, and in my memory those novels still rank a notch above Cherry Baby. Still, this is a solid four-star read for me. All of the material surrounding Cherry and her fictional counterpart, Baby, left me wishing I could actually read the Thursday comic series—despite Cherry’s own desire to separate herself from it. Rowell followed Fangirl, which focused on fan fiction set in the fictional Simon Snow universe, by writing the actual Simon Snow trilogy. Could a Thursday graphic novel be next?  

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Quick Facts

• Title: Cherry Baby

• Author: Rainbow Rowell

• Publisher: William Morrow

• Release Date: April 14, 2026

• Format: Ebook

• ISBN-13: 978-0063380295

• Pages: 412