Long Island Girls: A Novel (Pre-Order June 23rd 2026)

Long Island Girls by Gabrielle Korn (Pre-Order June 23rd 2026)

An unforgettable novel of young love, queer longing, and becoming yourself—set against the indie music scene of the early 2000s.

The only thing Susan loves more than music is Eliza—and both keep breaking her heart.

When Susan first meets Eliza in 2005, she’s speeding down the Long Island Expressway on the way to an indie rock show. Eliza is a last-minute addition to the car—beautiful, out of place, and seemingly uninterested in music—but Susan feels an instant pull she can’t explain. Their connection sparks quickly, then combusts just as fast when Susan realizes Eliza is the girl from a nude photo circulating among boys at school. They part ways, and Susan assumes that whatever this was is over.

Life moves on. Susan goes to college, then into Brooklyn’s indie music scene, where she lands a job at a small record label and learns how corrosive power, ambition, and misogyny can be. Music is still her first love—but Eliza lingers, unresolved.

Nearly a decade later, in 2015, Susan stumbles across Eliza on a dating app. This time, they finally get their chance. But Eliza’s past trauma is tangled up with people Susan still knows, and their relationship collapses under the weight of everything left unsaid. As the years pass, Susan’s career takes off and she meets someone new—someone who might actually be good for her. Still, Eliza remains the question she can’t stop asking: What if?

Long Island Girls is a tender, sexy, and sharply observed coming-of-age novel about queer desire, creative ambition, and the painful allure of almost-love. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Gabrielle Korn captures the ache of growing up, the messiness of intimacy, and the challenge of letting go of who you thought you’d be to make room for who you are.

Perfect for fans of queer literary fiction, music-centered novels, and nostalgic early-2000s stories, Long Island Girlsis a celebration of queer joy—and a reckoning with the stories we tell ourselves about love.