Love, luck and hipster cults converge in this high-concept and hugely entertaining New York City rom-com, from the bestselling essayist and novelist Sloane Crosley.

Lola – a diehard New Yorker with the ex-boyfriends, late nights, cigarette habit and sharp wit to prove it – is out to dinner with old colleagues in Chinatown; people she’s grown apart from, but with whom she shares an unshakeable connection. While reminiscing about the past, Lola runs into an ex-boyfriend. They get a late night drink and she returns home to her fiancé, a man she knows should be the perfect choice. But is he?

The next day, near the same place, Lola runs into another ex. And another. And another. Something strange is happening.

Lola has become the experimental mark of a hipster cult, headed up by her enigmatic former boss and headquartered in an abandoned synagogue. They are using their collective meditative energy (along with social media and the power of intention) to re-order her experience of the world – which just might be the push she needs to understand her past and get on with her future.

Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays from Sloane Crosley is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory.
From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions -- or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character who aims for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.
Sloane Crosley is also the author of "How Did You Get This Number."

Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions-or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character that's aiming for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.

A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES ‘The witty, improbably propulsive rom-com you didn't know you were waiting for' ELIF BATUMAN ‘Razor sharp and very funny on the cult of modern dating' PANDORA SYKES ‘So good. I couldn't stop reading it' NICK HORNBY ‘Cult Classic makes an uproarious time of romantic carnage' RAVEN LEILANI 'A witty and fantastical story of dating and experimental psychology in New York City' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) One night in New York City's Chinatown, Lola is at a dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. The next night, she runs into another ex. And then… another. The city has become awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past. What might have passed for coincidence becomes something far stranger when the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship, but the fact that her best friend and her former boss – a magazine editor turned mystical guru – might have an unhealthy investment in its outcome. As memories of the past swirl and converge, Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspirings of one very contemporary cult. A smart, sharp and hugely entertaining tale of luck and love, Cult Classic asks: is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale?

What happens when the minibus full of your fellow wedding travellers hits a bear in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness? Or you hear the voice of your high school's long lost queen bee from a bathroom cubicle? Why is there always a moment of utter disorientation when you emerge at street level from the tube station, no matter how many times you make the journey? It seems that Sloane Crosley can barely step outside her front door without being reminded of just how perplexing and absurd adult life can be. With her characteristic brio, Sloane recounts her amusing attempts to navigate the bumps of daily life. Pleasant existential confusion awaits you.

A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES 'The witty, improbably propulsive rom-com you didn't know you were waiting for' ELIF BATUMAN 'Razor sharp and very funny on the cult of modern dating' PANDORA SYKES 'So good. I couldn't stop reading it' NICK HORNBY 'Cult Classic makes an uproarious time of romantic carnage' RAVEN LEILANI 'A witty and fantastical story of dating and experimental psychology in New York City' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) One night in New York City's Chinatown, Lola is at a dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. The next night, she runs into another ex. And then... another. The city has become awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past. What might have passed for coincidence becomes something far stranger when the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship, but the fact that her best friend and her former boss - a magazine editor turned mystical guru - might have an unhealthy investment in its outcome. As memories of the past swirl and converge, Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspirings of one very contemporary cult. A smart, sharp and hugely entertaining tale of luck and love, Cult Classic asks: is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale?

The Best American Series(R)
First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites . A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected--and most popular--of its kind.
"The Best American Travel Writing 2011" includes
Andre Aciman, Christopher Buckley, Maureen Dowd,
Verlyn Klinkenborg, Ariel Levy, Tea Obreht, Annie Proulx,
Gary Shteyngart, William T. Vollmann,
Emily Witt, and others

The hilarious "New York Times" bestselling literary essay collection from Sloane Crosley, the author of "I Was Told There'd Be Cake."
Sloane Crosley, the brilliantly funny "fountain of observations" ("Boston Globe"), now takes readers from a bear-infested wedding in Alaska to a run-in with clowns in Portugal in a new collection of essays about the messiest and most unexpected dilemmas life has to offer.
"How sure-footed and observant Sloane Crosley is. How perfectly, relentlessly funny." -- David Sedaris