Run Away with Me

by Brian Selznick

From #1 New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Brian Selznick, a profoundly romantic YA novel about two boys finding each other and falling in love over one summer in Rome.

"I'm going to call you Danny. What are you going to name me?"

"Angelo."

Danny is spending his sixteenth summer in Rome. As his mother spends the day at work in a mysterious museum, he wanders the ancient sites and streets. Soon after his arrival, he encounters a shadow... who becomes a voice... who becomes a boy his age. Angelo.

Soon Danny and Angelo are spending as much time as they can together, piecing together stories of the city while only gradually letting their own histories be shared. Attraction leads to affection, and affection leads to both an intimate closeness and a profound fear of what happens next. Danny has never really had a home, or known the love of another boy. Angelo seems to have more experience... but he also has secrets just out of Danny’s reach.

Run Away with Me is a stunning creation, weaving words and illustration to tell the story of a transformative love over the course of one Roman summer.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Queer, Fiction, Contemporary

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2025

About the author

Hello there. My name is Brian Selznick and I’m the author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I was born in 1966 in New Jersey. I have a sister who is a teacher, a brother who is a brain surgeon, and five nephews and one niece. I studied at The Rhode Island School of Design and after I graduated from college I worked at Eeyore’s Books for Children in New York City. I learned all about children’s books from my boss Steve Geck who is now an editor of children’s books at Greenwillow. While I was at Eeyore’s I also painted the windows for holidays and book events.

My first book, The Houdini Box, which I both wrote and illustrated, was published in 1991 while I was still working at the bookstore. Since then, I have illustrated many books for children, including Frindle by Andrew Clements, The Doll People by Ann Martin and Laura Godwin, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Muñoz Ryan and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley, which received a 2001 Caldecott Honor.

I have also written a few other books myself, including The Boy of a Thousand Faces, but The Invention of Hugo Cabret is by far the longest and most involved book I’ve ever worked on.

I live in Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, California.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful fantasy that actually intermingles the stories of four gay couples, all through slightly different eras of time that overlap just enough for small pieces of history to be passed along and discovered.

Selznick paints all the scenes in Rome majestically. You can visualize each of these places. He does include some of his award winning drawings at the very beginning (100 pages), and then at the very end (20 pages) of the book.

The main characters were young boys Michael (aka Danny) and Angelo. Each chapter is titled by the amount of time Danny has remaining in Rome while his mother is working on a project over the summer.

The other three couples (chronologically in time) are:
- Dante and Giovanni
- Alberto and Vittorio
- Elijah and Isak

This true first love of all four of these couples easily brings tears to my eyes as their stories unfold of how they all needed to "run away with me".

There were holes in the real-time story of Danny/Angelo per young Danny's constant disappearance into the city of Rome all summer without being challenged by his fairly close mother. And when discoveries of the others stories were unveiled, they somehow found lots of exact details of how all the pieces fit together.

The ending was forebode purely by the chapter titles of Danny and his Mom's departure from Rome. But knowing these other stories simultaneously unveiled here, I feel assured these boys will see one another again soon.

This book will make you feel very good! That first crush/love feeling of inability to live without that person present is totally captured here.

First crush feelings: 5*
Walking hand in hand sneaking around Rome both day and night: 5*
Coincidences/plot-holes needed to weave story together: 4*

[rachel x]

"A profoundly romantic YA novel about two boys finding each other and falling in love over one summer in Rome."

a new gayer brian selznick!

[Xandra (StarrySkyBooks)]

I've been waiting for Selznick to make a book like this for a literal decade!! I'm honestly very excited he just keeps going. The Marvels was one of the first books I ever read with a gay character, and I'm so pleased Selznick's works have gone this far since then.

[Megan [Cottage Vibes] · Rating 2 out of 5]

LGBTQ+ Coming of Age
YA-MM-Summer of love
2.5 Stars ⭐️

Thanks netgalley for the arc but unfortunately this didn’t work for me. This book is about two 16 year old boys who meet in the summer of 1986 in Rome, Italy and spend almost 2 months together. I loved the setting and the fact it took place in the 80s really helped establish their bond because there were no modern distractions. However, because Angelo is really into history and myths, a lot of this book is him telling Danny all sorts of stories which bored me to tears. What kept me reading it though was seeing them sightseeing, holding hands, and being together because those parts were incredibly sweet but I found myself skimming this because I just did not care about most of the stories. There was one story I did enjoy though about a couple who ran away together because they couldn’t be together ages ago and were outcast by their families. They ran away and changed their last names to match and pretended to be brothers in public so they could live their truth in private.

I think my favorite part of this book besides the love story was the illustrations. They really added an extra dimension to this book and showed me their travels around Rome. My least favorite part was the way this ended and I can’t say more without spoilers but I wanted more. I definitely think most people will like this book especially if you’ve ever wanted to travel to Rome, this is atmospheric and rich in culture. The author’s note at the end says he got to visit during Covid when everything was quiet and shut down and it’s where he got the inspiration for this book. Unfortunately it’s just not for me. Absolutely love the cover though.

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED Hugo Cabaret as a kid, so I was sooo excited to read this book. Gorgeous queer love story, also calling to mind the importance of queer archives and learning our own history. I wanted a bit more from the characterization and world building but it was a good read overall!

[Ray]

dnfing at 27% because I can't be bothered to finish it. I was bored and I think I'd only continue to be bored so im quitting while I'm ahead.

[Amanda J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from Scholastic Press and Brian Selznick for free. My review is completely my own opinion.

There are 3 definitions of “Romantic”:

1. Pertaining to the city of Rome
2. Pertaining to the Romantic period of Literature (circa 19th century, often invoking the sublime, a sense of mutability, melancholy, and deeply complicated emotions)
3. Pertaining to love and affection.

This book encapsulates all three of those definitions wholly and beautifully, even including John Keats (the most romantic of the Romantics) references throughout.

A sweet plunge into young love with an emphasis on queer love stories spanning a couple different generations. I especially loved that no straight relationships seemed to exist in this book and all representations of romance were young gay boys finding their first true loves. How refreshing!

This is a clean and heartbreaking(?) romance novel for anyone who truly loves a genuine and classic romance story. Warning: may cause tears!

[Nathan Bartos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think maybe I just didn't give this book enough attention when I was listening to this, but it also definitely didn't grab my attention. It's a quiet book, and I found my mind wandering when going through the history of figures in Rome, and I didn't feel a lot of connection. The writing was good, and the illustrations are beautiful, as you probably expect from Selznick, but I think this was a case of nothing wrong with the book but not necessarily For Me.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart couldn’t handle this gorgeous love story. Suffice to say, I love everything Brian Selznick creates. Aimed at older teens this time, I fell hard for these characters and their forbidden love in 1980s Italy. I also loved the mysterious letters and puzzles element to the story. It just made it that more enjoyable.

[Mark Bucktin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just lovely. Now i need to go to Rome

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I've been a firm Selznick fans since I first got my grimy, child hands of a dogeared copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret in late middle school. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Up until then, I had been one of those unbearable people who thought that graphic novels were inferior to text-only novels. Clearly, I learned my lesson as I now read more graphic novels than not these days. Regardless, Hugo was a very important book for me and I was a bit scared to read anything new because what if I didn't like it as much?

Well, that was silly. Of course the new Selznick title isn't just amazing and clever and chock full of jaw dropping illustrations, but it's entirely different than Hugo, too. Both are historical fiction but that's about where the similarities end.

Run Away with Me is a love letter to young love, the power of history, and the city of Rome. The first and final section are entirely conducted in Selznick's iconic shadowy illustrations (at least in the physical ARC I have) while the middle is the equally artistic narrative prose that feels a bit like wadding through balmy, sun-dappled waters. The story takes place over a summer where Danny, an American teenager in Rome for the summer thanks to his mother's job restoring old books, meets Angelo, a mysterious Italian teen with a knack for storytelling (and potentially, lying). Together, Danny and Angelo roam the city and the histories of multiple historic people and places unfold through their adventures. I'm not sure how much of the history is true (again, Angelo's stories are presented as not fully reliable) but the history feels true in a way few novels are able to achieve.

I want to keep this review spoiler-free so I'll end it there. Just know, if you're like me, and Hugo Cabret made an irreplaceable mark on you, fret not- this book will make an entirely new one, all it's own. This is definitely Selznick, but a new side to his storytelling that plays with familiar themes and patterns but in a completely different way. I absolutely loved every summery second.

[Spens (Sphynx Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5

This was a story that I feel didn't live up to its potential. The romance is there, the setting is beautiful, and Selznick's writing and art are as strong as ever, but everything feels sort of rushed and many elements not given sufficient time to breathe. I wish we'd gotten a bigger book with more illustrations like Hugo, Wonderstruck, and The Marvels, especially for Angelo's stories which seemed to stretch on with too much detail and were longer than necessary. Overall still a beautiful story but probably the weakest I've read from Selznick in terms of the actual storytelling.

[Sharese Stribling · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really special to me. Almost every scene really hit me hard, and especially early on I couldn't read through it as fast as I would have liked, because I kept needing to take a break to process. I think I know why, but I don't necessarily want to get into it here. Regardless, this is a definite recommendation from me.

[Jan Raspen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this sweet romance about two boys falling in love in Rome in the 1980s. I kind of think it was more a love story to Rome, where the author spent some time during the pandemic. (I myself was there in February 2020 and am going back next week, so I GET IT.) Selznick made some interesting choices by setting the book in the 1980s, making Angelo's story purposefully cryptic, putting an expiration date on Danny's time in Rome, etc. But overall, the stories tied together well and made me fall in love with both boys.

[Marcos “MSMDragon” · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love queer stories like this. Run Away With Me was so tender and beautiful. And yet it was also devastating. The author did such an amazing job weaving multiple tales of queer men into a fun adventure for two boys who are discovering Rome, some of its secrets, and themselves.

[Bailey Salinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

is it corny?
yes, did i enjoy the hell out of this
also yes

[Bethany Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profoundly romantic YA novel about two boys finding each other and falling in love over one summer in Rome.

^from the publisher!

This came out on Tuesday and I devoured it y’all. It is SOOOOOOO swoony and romantic. There were several times I was just cheesin’ away at these two. There were also some incredibly tender, quiet, and sad moments that had my heart squeezing in all of the best ways. There were some tears on my end. Such a gorgeous story. No spoilers though!!!

I had the absolute privilege of listening to this audio and it is truly fantastic. There is a musical score, and epic narrator, and a wonderful author’s note at the end. @itsmarksanderlin captured the emotions of Danny and Angelo so beautifully and I frantically DMed him my thoughts pretty consistently (sorry Mark). I also did the same to @thebrianselznick (sorry Brian) because I had to make sure he knew how gorgeous this story is to me.

I cannot WAIT for my print copy that has drawings. I am going to eat them up…and I can’t wait to see the visualizations of these two young kids in love.

[Claudio De La Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way the stories Angelo told Danny wrapped up so beautifully in the last 2 chapters. Had me shedding tears, especially seeing them become more and more aware of the limited time they had with one another.

[Keanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh to be in a murmuration of two. Oh to experience love, even just for a fleeting second. Oh to have your story told in such a poetic way. Oh to be a book losing all semblance of what you were to the deterioration of time and memory.

[Ambar Sahil Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘I was sixteen when we found each other, shy and lonely and completely unprepared for what was to come…’

Rome, 1986. Two teenage boys meet one sultry summer in the Eternal City and immediately forge a connection. We come to know them only by the pseudonyms they give each other—‘Danny’ and ‘Angelo’. Danny is besotted with the beautiful, mysterious Angelo, and as the summer progresses, he finds himself falling in love with his newfound friend who seems to know all of Rome’s hidden secrets and layered history—even if Angelo seems to be hiding some secret of his own from Danny. And hanging over them both is the impending end to their summer idyll, when Danny will have to return to America, perhaps never to see Angelo again…

“Run Away with Me” is a sweet and simple story about the intensity of first love and its transformative power. This is also a book about queer desire and queer erasure—and In some ways, the novel is an attempt to bear witness and reclaim gay lives and gay love from the shadows of history. Selznick’s incredible artwork comprises my favourite part of the book, adding depth and mood to the unfolding tale through gorgeous black-and-white illustrations. (In fact, my only quibble is that I wish there’d been more drawings interspersed with the narrative, especially for the tender moments the boys share at the grave of John Keats or during their day at the beach in Ostia or even their surreptitious visit to the Cinecitta studio lot.)

Ultimately, this is a novel engulfed in nostalgia—for who we were when it was still possible to derive more pleasure from relatively simpler dreams, and perhaps for what it felt like when cynicism seemed no match for the steady drumbeat of hope. Our lives and perspectives may have changed since then, but it’s oddly comforting and poignant to look back now.

This would have been a solid 3.5 stars, but the artwork elevates it to 4.

[Gabe Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful story

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a bit of a slog for me. I wanted to love it like I have all of the Selznick books before, but had the hardest time connecting with this one. The illustrations were wonderful, as always and there were definitely parts that I did really enjoy. The ending was both beautiful and heartbreaking.

[Trin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Selznick loves to build his work around other artists who have shaped him, many of whom have also shaped me, from Harry Houdini to Georges Méliès to, here -- among others -- John Keats. This YA novel, his first, is set in Rome during the 1980s and has a lovely dreamlike quality, but for me, not quite enough substance -- or else I am neither young enough, nor old enough to be looking back on teenage romance with nostaglia, for this to click. I appreciated it but I didn't feel it.

[Claire Askew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so sweet (without being saccharine) and so fun. So evocative of Rome and first love and full of that teenage sense of everything mattering so much and being so intense and new. I loved the illustrations, too. I hope Selznick writes more YA!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Scholastic for this ARC. I really enjoyed reading this book. This is my first book by Brian Selznick. I had known of his books for years and this new one really got my attention. I really love how he adds illustrations to his book. The illustrations really help with adding a great part of the story. This book is sweet and the story is a great one. The book will be released on April 1, 2025.

[Elliott Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I don’t really have any complaints or problems to point out. I really liked the way it was written. I guess the one thing I would have loved is more on the Mondas. I knew they were lovers!! Early on in the book it said they were twin brothers who lived together and never married and I was immediately suspicious. But this time no one can tell me it’s just because I assume everyone is gay, it was real, I just called it early.

[Anna]

dnf around half way through: i usually appreciate a story with no plot, but this one was just a little too mundane for me. Selznick’s drawings at the beginning were as beautiful as ever though! he is truly such a talented artist

[Brent Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was like a Magic Tree House book, but gay

[Dayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm normally a huge fan of Brian Selznick's work--especially because his artwork is beautiful and his writing is gorgeous and thought-provoking. And while I didn't dislike this one, I found it to be sort of lacking. I just couldn't connect to the main character.

The adventuring side of the book was fun and I liked seeing everything he and his new partner in crime explored. I liked how mysterious the love interest was and how there was almost an air of magic surrounding him.

But my biggest complaint about this book was how it just didn't grab me. I felt more connected to the story about a seed trying to find a new home through the ages than a human boy navigating Italy with who I'm sure would be the love of his life. It felt like a short story in that it had the skeleton of a story, but didn't really have the flesh to round it out.

The artwork was still eye-catching and I may have gotten a little teary-eyed shuffling through those last few pages with the image of the two of them. But I'm sad I couldn't love this book as much as I wanted to. Maybe next time!

I think many others WILL love this though--mainly because of the historical mystery, the artwork, and the idea of spending a summer with a mysterious love interest in one of the most romantic countries in the world.

Happy reading!