Meeting New People

by Daniel M. Lavery

From the author of the national bestseller Women’s Hotel, the irresistible and wildly entertaining story of one woman contending with age and friendship—a narrative that reads like an homage to Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.

Sixtysomething, twice-divorced Barbara is at a crossroads. In the midst of her emotional uncertainty, she looks back on the dissolution of the nine best friendships of her life, in hopes of figuring out how to optimize finding her tenth, and hopefully last, best friend. Barbara is acerbic, opinionated, and wrong about many things, but she also doesn't shy away when she's at fault. The turning point of her predicament comes from Barbara’s choice, in friends, between (too-young) Caitlyn and the (unsuitable) Other Barbara. Will she repeat the exciting mistakes of the past, or will she try a new kind of mistake for a change? She feels like an out-of-season Scrooge who is unexpectedly, and all at once, surprised and entirely transformed by the possibility of joy.

For readers who loved Bobby Finger's The Old Place and Elif Bautmann's Either/Or, Meeting New People will feel like a long-lost companion—Lavery at the height of his storytelling powers. It is an unforgettable novel from one of our most inventive and brilliant writers.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 2, 2026

About the author

Also see Mallory Ortberg and Daniel Mallory Ortberg.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book had a bit of an unfair disadvantage because I read this after reading Night Night Fawn: A Novel which is also a first person narrative from an opinionated older New Yorker named Barbara delivered as a stream of consciousness moving between past and present.

While there are a lot of similarities, these are obviously very different books, but I think having this comparison made what I didn’t enjoy about this book stand out more.

The Barbara in Meeting New People has a lot of strong opinions on everything from food to fashion and how we ought to behave socially. None of these opinions are especially objectionable and it gets quite tedious reading these long winded passages of her mild takes.

The story centers on her best friend dumping her. Barbara has always had a best friend, and the relationship always ends dramatically. We follow her as she reflects on these failures and attempts to forge new connections.

I think the blurb makes this seem like the story is about Barbara’s struggle to choose between two new friends but this doesn’t really match up with the experience of reading it. It’s much more focused on the impact of her friendship ending, her fear of loneliness, and her complicated feelings about getting older.

I think what I was missing from this was some clarity on why exactly Barbara’s relationships kept failing. It gestures towards her issue being her strong opinions and stubbornness, but as I said her opinions are pretty middle of the road and she’s open minded and happy to admit when she’s wrong. By comparison her failed relationships seem unreasonable and one sided with her being left without an explanation or chance to make things right. I thought maybe it would reveal Barbara to be an unreliable narrator which would have been really interesting, but it doesn’t end up going that way.

Instead of her developing as a character, she just learns to move forward and be open to new connections after facing rejection. That’s still a worthwhile story to explore, but it doesn’t feel as satisfying to read as if she had to confront her own shortcomings in a meaningful way.

I will also say if you’re looking for a queer story this might not be a great fit. Apart from the author being queer, the book itself doesn’t have queer characters (though Barbara does have opinions about lesbians!).

Overall this book is technically well written and Barbara as a character felt well developed, but I found it a bit lacking in substance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book! Barbara is not a likeable character. She's very opinioned, wrong about a lot of things, set in her ways and seems a bit rigid. She does admit when she's wrong, well, when she thinks she's wrong and seems to have a hard time looking at something from someone else's perspective. She is on a journey to find a new best friend. On this journey, she remembers her frienships of years past and how they didn't work out. While we only get her side of things, one can imagine that these characteristics she has now, she has had for a lot of her life. As the story goes on and Barbara tries to find more people to spend time with, I think she starts to realize that sometimes, things don't have to be a certain way for them to be good. People start to surprise her, like her fellow deli worker, other Barbara. She realizes that there is more to her than just being older than Barbara and that she works in the same deli. As her horizons broaden, she tries to reconnect with her son, they seem to always be at odds. I think in a lot of ways, they are more similiar than Barbara wants to admit. There are numerous times in this story that made me laugh and there were also numerous times when something she said sparked something inside of me. Having someone that understands you and is there for you, no matter what, is a universal want. This book really resonated with me. It's not a gripping tale to keep you on the edge of your seat, it's an older woman trying to find her way in the world. It's refreshing, honest and Barbara did grow on me as the story went on. I will definately be reccomending this book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy that I so enjoyed!