A novel from Jennsylvania

Jen Lancaster

Jen Lancaster has charmed readers with hilarious nonfiction books like Bitter is the New Black and Such a Pretty Fat. (Brief backstory: Lancaster was making a ton of money at a technology company before 9/11, and then she got laid off, chronicled her experiences on a blog, Jennsylvania, and landed several book deals.)

Yesterday, news broke that Lancaster will write her first novel, Apocalypse House, which “follows a couple from the city through the frustrating and hysterical process of buying and renovating their first home in the suburbs” (per Publisher’s Marketplace).

According to The Historical Jennsylvania Timeline on her website, Lancaster’s family moved from Metro New York to small-town Indiana when she was 10—and she wasn’t happy about it. Inspiration?

The novel will be published by NAL, and it’s part of a multi-book deal. On her blog, Lancaster elaborated: “Remember that novel I said I was working on? There was an announcement about it on Publishers’ Marketplace today. So that’s what I’m doing for the next three years (in addition to writing non-fiction).”

Are you a fan of Lancaster’s nonfiction? Will you check out Apocalypse House? If you’ve never read her work before, read Linda Stankard’s BookPage review of My Fair Lazy (on sale Tuesday). The review is written in the form of an e-mail to the author. A preview:

Hey Jen! I just wanted you to know that when I was first asked to review your latest book, I hadn’t read your other books and had a slight case of up-in-the-air nose (Shame Rattle!) concerning the subtitle: “One Reality Television Addict’s Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black, or a Culture-Up Manifesto” (being pretty much a TCM gal myself), but I totally loved My Fair Lazy and I am soooo bringing Bitter is the New Black, Bright Lights, Big Ass, Such a Pretty Fat and Pretty in Plaid to the beach this summer so I can laugh and tan at the same time and catch up on all the Jen I have heretofore missed! You’re hilarious!