Love Junkie

Before there was Tales of the City, there was Love Junkie—Robert Plunket’s wickedly funny cult classic that captures the glittering, chaotic world of 1980s gay New York with razor-sharp wit and surprising tenderness. Adored by Amy Sedaris, optioned by Madonna, and championed by legendary editor Gordon Lish, this scandalously entertaining novel has been out of print for far too long. Now it’s back, ready to seduce a whole new generation of readers.

Meet Mimi Smithers, a suburban housewife with impeccable taste and impossible dreams. After a disastrous party for Mrs. Rockefeller sends her spiraling, Mimi tumbles headfirst into Manhattan’s underground gay scene and discovers a world more fabulous than anything Westchester could offer. There she meets Joel, a porn star with a thriving mail-order business (signed photos, used underwear, and yes, “verbal abuse audiotapes”), and suddenly Mimi’s life transforms into something gloriously, outrageously unexpected.

Set against the backdrop of Fire Island parties and the dawn of the AIDS epidemic, Love Junkie is part social satire, part love letter to a vanished era. Plunket writes with the precision of Jane Austen and the audacity of John Waters, creating a modern Emma Bovary who’s equal parts ridiculous and heartbreaking. This is a novel about friendship, reinvention, and the beautiful chaos that happens when you finally stop pretending to be someone you’re not.

Funny, poignant, and utterly unforgettable—Love Junkie is the cult classic that deserves a place on every shelf.

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