Retro

by Jessica M. Goldstein

An out-of-work actress gets a job as a tour guide for an ultra-luxury time travel company—only to discover her trips to the past could upend her present—in this sharp, speculative debut novel.

When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll—she’s in debt and unemployed; everyone else is, evidently, thriving—she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the Come away with us! We’re hiring.

So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots. She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West and throws “'20s for your twenties” birthday bashes at speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot in the Gold Rush. It's all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.

Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. How is she supposed to choose between her mysterious office crush and the handsome private eye pursuing her in 1937?

For the first time in years, Ash’s life feels enviable—so she’d really rather not pay attention to the strange things happening to her memory and relationships outside Retro. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling “escaping” into the past was never really an escape at all.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

416 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 23, 2026

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Retro as a buddy read and really wanted it to click for me, but overall it fell short of my expectations.

Jessica Goldstein sets up an intriguing premise and a very specific atmosphere, but the pacing dragged for a large portion of the book. It felt like the story could have been significantly tighter, and I often found myself waiting for the plot to truly move. There’s a lot of setting and scene detail layered in, and while I can see what it was trying to establish, much of it didn’t feel essential to my experience as a reader.

The strongest element for me was Ash. Her character development is solid, and I appreciated watching her evolve from the moment she lands the job at Retro through everything that follows. That said, I wanted more depth and sharper emotional payoff. A lot happens across the timeline, and while the slow build is clearly intentional, the eventual delivery didn’t hit as hard as I expected.

It wasn’t until around the last 20% that I felt fully engaged, and by then I was wishing the earlier sections had been trimmed or given a stronger sense of forward momentum.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jessica Goldstein, and Ballantine Books for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and shared voluntarily.

[Dave Milbrandt]

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest evaluation of its merits.

One of the challenges with this book is solely the fault of the reader: I am from a different generation from the protagonist. I don't think Ash is a bad character aside from the fact she struggles with the nihilistic hopelessness that seems to take hold of people in their 20s and 30s and doesn't let go. It got a bit much at times, which is why I appreciated when the author used others to provide a solid check on this "it's the end of the world"-ism.

If you are looking for a voyeuristic examination of times past, you will have to accept that this is more of a behind the scenes look at the magical (or not so magical at times) invention of time travel. Also, the ending left me wanting to know where (or SPOILER ALERT, when) Ash ended up.

Aimed at a millennial audience, this story hits different readers differently. Taking all that into account, the premise makes it worth the read.