Fangirl
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to m
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Fangirl
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Identical twins Cath and Wren start their freshman year at the University of Nebraska. Wren wants space. Cath retreats into her hugely popular Simon Snow fanfic, her dorm-mate Reagan, and Reagan's friend Levi.
Yes. Fangirl introduces the Simon Snow fanfic Cath is writing within the larger novel. Rainbow Rowell later turned Simon Snow into the Carry On trilogy, a three-book series in its own world that started as the fanfic-within-a-novel.
Fangirl is published as YA but has strong crossover appeal to adult readers. It centers on Cath's first year of college, which makes it sit on the edge of new adult. There is no explicit content.
Fangirl was written by Rainbow Rowell, published in 2013 by St. Martin's Griffin.
Fangirl is 438 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Fangirl takes most readers 7 to 9 hours to finish.
Fangirl is a standalone novel by Rainbow Rowell, not part of a series.
Fangirl is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.