Cherry Baby

Brought to you by Penguin.

The big-hearted, grown-up new novel about love and second chances from million-copy international bestselling author Rainbow Rowell

Everybody knows that Cherry's husband is in Hollywood making a movie ... Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home.

Tom's the creator of Thursday, a comic strip that's become an international phenomenon. It's semi-autobiographical, which unfortunately means there's a character based on Cherry ... "Baby."

Wide-hipped, double-chinned Baby.

Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page -- let alone the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry, strangers recognize her at the store.

While Tom's in L.A., getting rich and famous and being the Internet's latest boyfriend, Cherry's stuck taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in -- and wondering who she's supposed to be without him.

Until the night Cherry ventures out to see her favourite band play, and someone recognizes her from across the room.

Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels.

Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry.

And best of all ... he's never heard of Thursday.

Told with deep tenderness and shot through with Rowell's signature wit, Cherry Baby is a second-chance romance for grown-ups. For people who understand how rare it is to get even one chance at love, and how impossible -- and impossibly wonderful -- it can feel to make it work.

Praise for Rainbow Rowell

'Sexy, sweet, wise and nostalgic – Jane Austen’s Persuasion for our times’ Gabrielle Zevin

'Deeply human, profoundly romantic. Rowell will break your heart and you’ll thank her for it' Leigh Bardugo


‘Rainbow Rowell has an incredible ability to hide an emotional wallop in the middle of a light and romantic story’ Cosmopolitan

‘Rainbow writes such complicated, quirky characters - it's a great one’ Today Show

‘Rainbow Rowell returns with a gorgeous, slow-burn second-chance love story . . . Raw, real and romantic, this got me right in the feels’ Red

'A will-they, won't-they second chance romance for the ages, this one is poised to be one of summer's breakout hits' People

‘If you adored One Day, make this your next read’ Sun

‘A gorgeous book . . . a beautiful, believable love story between two slightly broken people. So sweet, but never sentimental. I yearned for them to be happy and I miss it now it's over’ Marian Keyes

© Rainbow Rowell 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026