Bad Summer People

Emma Rosenblum’s debut novel, Bad Summer People (2023), is set in the fictional village of Salcombe. The setting is based on Saltaire, a village on the real-life vacation destination of Fire Island, New York. Rosenblum spent most of her youth here, during which time her father was also the mayor of Saltaire. Rosenblum wrote the novel while spending the summer at her parents’ beach house. Before publication, a pirated draft of the novel was passed via email among the residents, and the story caused some dismay among those who feared that Rosenblum might expose some of their real-life peccadilloes. Because her early draft used the names of her real-life neighbors before she later altered character names for publication, such fears may not have been entirely unfounded. However, the author maintains that her story is entirely fictional.

Rosenblum works as a content editor for Bustle Digital Group writing. In previous positions, she was the executive editor of Elle magazine and a senior editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, New York Magazine, and Glamour. Bad Summer People was named a summer 2023 must-read by multiple media outlets, including Bustle, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and Bloomberg.

This guide refers to the Flatiron Books Kindle edition.