Casey McQuiston masters the art of feel-good fiction

THREE WORDS CAME TO CASEY McQuiston while she was taking a bath: magic subway lesbians. The author has always been drawn to romances that seem a little impossible—ones that show that the power of love can transcend anything, even time and space. “I know that sounds very corny,” McQuiston says, gazing at the Manhattan skyline from a picnic table across the East River.

But so what if it’s corny? Corny can be nice. Corny can make you feel good. Which is what McQuiston, 30, has set out to do with her fiction. Her 2019 debut novel, about the relationship between the Prince of Wales and America’s first son, was an instant and unexpected success: the book found best-seller list. It’s now being adapted as a film by Amazon Studios. “I wrote a book that made my brain buzz and was fun and what I want to read,” McQuiston says. “I always felt that if the book could find its people—other depressed queer millennials—it could do well. But I’ve been blown away.”