Everything's Fine

Jess first meets Josh at university. He is an entitled white guy in chinos, ready to inherit the world. She is almost always the only Black woman in their class. And she’s not expecting to inherit anything.

After graduation, Jess and Josh end up working at the same bank. They share lunch, they share sparring matches, they share ambitions. And suddenly they’re sleeping together . . .

Cecilia Rabess' Everything's Fine is hilarious, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.

Review

A stunning debut -- Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow and Bliss

Truly brilliant . . . incredible dialogue and characters so real that I felt preoccupied with them when I wasn't reading. I couldn't have loved it more -- Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic Comedy

Does love conquer all? Does it now? Did it ever? These are questions Cecilia Rabess asks in her nimble, discerning debut . . . The ending of Everything’s Fine is one of the best I’ve read in years ― The New York Times

A whip smart, sexy, biting love story about how what unites us does not always overcome what divides us -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

A subtle, ironic, wise state-of-the-nation novel, sharp enough to draw blood, hidden inside a moving, intimate, sincere and very real love story - or vice versa -- Nick Hornby

Everything's Fine poses incisive questions about love, identity, and the countless ways these things can both bruise and bolster one another. Cecilia Rabess has crafted an extraordinarily brave debut that's painfully real―but plain funny as hell, too -- Zakiya Dalila Harris, bestselling author of The Other Black Girl

Do not have anything planned for the day you start this because it is impossible to put down and will provoke discussion with anyone else that has read it. Book Clubs – this is your next pick . . . deeply funny, razor sharp ― Glamour Magazine

Addictive and extremely funny -- Jenny Colgan, Guardian, Five of the best romance books of 2023

Original, confident, hilarious -- Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

A love affair that turns inferno.... You'll be riveted ― People Magazine

Warm, funny and romantic but it’s also sharp and full of nuance ― ELLE

An assured debut that provides an honest look into the fraught terrain of a mixed-race, mixed-politics romance . . . Rabess is at her best when she is shining a light on the subtle mores that exclude Black women from conventions of desirability ― Guardian

A brilliantly observed novel about what it means to lose yourself as a young woman. So funny but also incredibly true -- Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina

With the 2016 election looming, a volatile cultural and political landscape forces Jess and Josh to reckon with a relationship defined by their differences, and they find that the closer you are to someone the harder it is to villainize them ― The Washington Post

Fans of Such A Fun Age will enjoy this nuanced, witty read that’s about race, privilege and loving someone but not always liking them ― Red Magazine, 10 best books in June 2023

Funny, felt, and riveting, all at once―a story for anyone who’s ever fallen in love that’s less than straightforward. Cecilia Rabess is equal parts comedian and sorcerer, reminding us that none of us are (only) as we appear -- Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin

Both entertaining and wise, a page-turner that explores race, class, sex, and ambition and how love and compromise work (or don’t) in our current political climate -- Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses

About the Author

Cecilia Rabess previously worked as a data scientist at Google and as an associate at Goldman Sachs. Her nonfiction has been featured in McSweeneys, FiveThirtyEight, Fast Company, and FlowingData, among other places. Everything's Fine is her debut novel.