Waiting on a Friend, Natalie Adler
Waiting on a Friend, Natalie Adler
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Waiting on a Friend

Author: Natalie Adler

Narrator: Dani Martineck

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/26/2026

Synopsis

New York City, East Village, 1984. A young woman with the power to see the ghosts of her friends is haunted by the one who refuses to return—a dazzling, big-hearted debut of friendship and community during a time of devastation and defiance.

“A wildly inventive and moving novel . . . an astonishingly brilliant debut.”—Patrick Ryan, author of Buckeye

“A beautiful study of friendship, of how loss unmoors us, and how if we keep turning towards love, anything is possible.”—Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Fresh and refreshing, both heartbreaking and uplifting. Natalie Adler has given us a gem.”—Rabih Alameddine, winner of the National Book Award

“[A] powerhouse debut . . . Adler’s intimate portrayal of the period is richly detailed, both in the grim atmosphere and the city’s life-affirming downtown arts community. This dazzles like a mirror ball.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Spellbinding.”—Library Journal (starred review)

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: Debutiful, Lit Hub, Publishers Lunch

Renata is a young dyke-about-town who can see ghosts, something she's doing more and more of lately as too many of her friends are dying of a new, terrifying disease. When Renata's best friend Mark dies of complications from AIDS, Renata is devastated by the loss of the person she loved most in the world. And to her disappointment and increasing despair, Mark seems unwilling or unable to return for the proper goodbye they both were denied.

While Renata waits anxiously for Mark, she must stay vigilant: a mysterious, police-like force has begun ridding their East Village neighborhood of anything abnormal or inexplicable. What first seems like a scam reveals itself to be far more sinister, targeting the soul of Renata's community. With her band of lovably eccentric pals and lovers, Renata is determined to fight back against the erasure of her friends' memories and the sanitizing of her beloved New York. But haunting her every step is Mark, the one ghost who stubbornly refuses to reappear.

Both heartbreaking and healing, tragic and triumphant, Waiting on a Friend is a magical retelling of queer history and a celebration of youth and camaraderie. With pathos and humor, empathy and an edge, Natalie Adler freshly reimagines the past for a new generation, reclaiming the spirit of resistance and determination that would become one of the era's defining legacies.

About The Author

Natalie Adler has an MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Brown University. She was a Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction and is an editor at Lux magazine. She is from New Jersey and lives in New York City.

Reviews

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Quotes

“A wildly inventive and moving novel that walks a tightrope of emotion with grace and humor . . . an astonishingly brilliant debut.”—Patrick Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of Buckeye

“A magical retelling of queer history, a celebration of NYC youth and friendship.”—Literary Hub, “Most Anticipated Books of 2026”

“Fresh and refreshing, both heartbreaking and uplifting . . . Natalie Adler has given us a gem.”—Rabih Alameddine, author of The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), winner of the National Book Award

“A fun, sexy, heartbreaking, inventive whirl of a novel.”—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful

“Quirky, queer, poignant, and funny, this book shines with spirit and hope.”—Julia Glass, author of Three Junes, winner of the National Book Award

“A perfect ghost story . . . beautiful, quietly radical, and so heartfelt it hurts.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt

“Adler gets the feeling of the time more right than almost any historical fiction I’ve read about the early-middle height of AIDS in NYC.”—Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

“Natalie Adler is bringing one incarnation of the AIDS experience into the present where it all belongs. Someone is listening.”—Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP

“[A book] everyone should be itching to read. Adler has her finger on the pulse of humanity, humor, and a damn good haunting plot.”—Debutiful

“A riveting debut by a writer of tremendous compassion and insight.”—Helen Phillips, author of The Need

“A breathtaking novel . . . I absolutely loved it and could not stop reading.”—Jiaming Tang, author of Cinema Love

“This book will linger long after the last page.”—Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased

“Tender, funny, insightful . . . These characters and this world stayed in my heart long after I finished the book.”—Carter Sickels, author of The Prettiest Star

“At turns funny and wise, sexy and sad, paranormal and devastatingly real—this book made me feel more human.”—Molly McGhee, author of Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind

“By turns biting and generous, funny and devastating, Waiting on a Friend evokes friendship in all its complexity—its resentments, tender obsessions, marvelous intimacies, and supernatural power.”—Beth Morgan, author of A Touch of Jen

“Spellbinding . . . Adler’s debut is highly recommended for readers who enjoy vividly drawn literary fiction about the past.”—Library Journal, starred review

“[A] powerhouse debut . . . Adler’s intimate portrayal of the period is richly detailed, both in the grim atmosphere and the city’s life-affirming downtown arts community. This dazzles like a mirror ball.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

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