HAILS FROM A LITERARY FAMILY: Kate Russo is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize winner (and fellow PRH author) Richard Russo. Her sister Emily runs Print, an independent bookstore in Portland, Maine. She is deeply familiar with the business of books and will be a phenomenal partner to work with.

UNCONVENTIONAL LOVE STORY THAT’S ON TREND: With warmth and wit, Super Host is a fresh take on what it means to open oneself up to love. At its heart, the novel is a meditation on loneliness and human connection, much like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, How Not to Die Alone, and Reese Witherspoon’s recent book club pick, The Cactus.

FUN, TIMELY PREMISE PERFECT FOR SUMMER: People have always secretly wondered about the personal lives of their AirBnb hosts, and this novel offers fantastic insight into the people behind the rental.

IMPRESSIVE DEBUT AUTHOR WITH ART WORLD CREDENTIALS: Russo is a painter who exhibits widely in the United States and England, allowing her to infuse the novel with a realistic look at the day-to-day reality of the “glamorous” life of a working artist.

THE CHARM OF CLASSIC 90s BRITISH ROMCOMS: With the same blundering charm and clever humor of a Richard Curtis film, Bennett Driscoll is a pitch-perfect contemporary version of the most famous Hugh Grant protagonists—think Notting Hill and About a Boy.

Kate Russo grew up in Maine but now divides her time between there and the United Kingdom. She has an MFA in painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, and exhibits in both the UK and the US.

Author Residence: Portland, Maine; London, England

One of:
The New York Times Book Review’s 13 New Books to Watch For in February
Entertainment Weekly’s Best New Books to Read in February  
Boston Magazine’s 42 Books to Help You Get Through the Rest of Quarantine 
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2021
PureWow’s 9 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in February 

“Russo’s clever debut evokes a time when travel wasn’t so fraught and strangers could get close enough to learn something about themselves.” –The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“Brimming with…pure affection.” —The New York Times Book Review 

“Here’s that rare thing: a wise, literary novel that is also funny as hell…the perfect antidote to this time of being shut in at home. Super Host gives me hope for the future, when we can all open our doors, and our hearts, once more.” —Jennifer Finney Boylan, Buzzfeed

“The Airbnb-novel genre grows with this highly-readable story.” –Entertainment Weekly

“[A] candid and captivating portrait of middle age…[and] what it truly means to take a new chance at life.” –PureWow

“Funny, sharp, and artistic…A wonderful book flanked with irony, perversity, Rear Window voyeurism, and women who understand the task of reinvention, Super Host is a case study of what we talk about when we talk about success.” –Lit Hub

“[A] witty, enjoyable debut…Russo is a formidable talent, and readers will be eager to see what she does next.” –Publishers Weekly

“Kate Russo’s novel hasn’t yet been compared to Eleanor [Oliphant Is Completely Fine], but it should be. The character at its heart…is the perfect blend of impossible and beloved, and the story is handled with a mix of wise humor and compassion.” —BookPage

“A painter herself, Russo makes the act of creating art come alive, while effectively limning her characters in this incisive study of contemporary life.” –Library Journal

“In Russo’s charming and poignant debut…the author writes with warm sympathy and humor. A treat for fans of Nick Hornby and Tom Perrotta.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[A] pleasantly quirky debut…Bennett is a comfortable character to get to know, as is the London through which he ambles.” –Booklist

“Super Host isn’t just a charming, compulsively readable, romantically suspenseful novel about a lonely man who gets himself emotionally enmeshed with a series of short-term tenants. Kate Russo’s wise and funny debut also has a lot to say about the neighborhoods of London, the frustrations and satisfactions of making art, and the courage it takes to start over in the middle of your life. It’s a joy from start to finish.” —Tom Perrotta

“I gobbled up Super Host, Kate Russo’s smart, funny, and surprising first novel. She writes with such a generous and insightful eye about love, loneliness and artistic ambition, and has redrawn the lines that connect people in fiction through the most modern and unlikely of settings, the home share.” –Jess Walter

“This is the compulsively readable story of Bennett, a once-famous artist now divorced and impoverished, who lives in his garden studio and spies on his tenants through the windows. Super Host is hilarious, and touching, too; Kate Russo is a terrific storyteller.” —Claire Messud 

“Kate Russo’s debut Super Host is pure delight—smart, fun, poignant, and deeply satisfying. I loved it.” –Lily King

“Kate Russo’s delightful novel is deft, fast, and startling. I could have sworn I was right there, and I never wanted to leave.” —Luis Alberto Urrea