First Time, Long Time

For readers of Emma Cline and Melissa Broder, a sharp, darkly funny debut about a drifting young woman who falls for a famous older radio host—and then for his daughter.

Allison, an aspiring writer and perennial naïf, moves to Los Angeles hoping her life will finally take shape. Still mourning the sudden death of her brother and long influenced by the emotional whims of her mercurial father, she’s eager to reclaim her narrative and become the main character in her own story. But LA proves no more grounding than anywhere else—she’s uninspired, barely writing, and scraping by as an English teacher.

Then she meets Reid Steinman, a legendary radio personality idolized by both her father and late brother. Their chance encounter quickly spirals into something more, and Allison—entranced and eager to redefine herself—slips into old, self-effacing patterns. Just as she’s losing sight of who she is, an unexpected connection jolts her awake: a magnetic, deeply charged tryst with Reid’s adult daughter, Maddie. As their affair deepens, Allison finds herself torn between two versions of herself—and between two people who each seem to mirror parts of her lost brother.

With unflinching honesty, razor-sharp insight, and biting humor, First Time, Long Time explores the messy, thrilling tangle of identity, desire, and ambition. What happens to a young woman’s dreams when they collide with the needs of a powerful man? And how does she move forward when the past keeps pulling her back?