Taylor Jenkins Reid on Atmosphere, Adaptations, and Identity

That it would happen for Reid, though, was hardly expected, especially considering she didn’t originally set out to write books. The woman who now regularly fields offers to put her work onscreen initially wanted to be in the movie business. 

She got her start as a casting assistant, but began writing on the side, even finishing a manuscript that was never published. In 2012, she asked her husband how he’d feel about her taking time off to focus on fiction. Within a month, she had a draft for what became her first novel, Forever, Interrupted. That book, published in 2013, sold poorly. Her second, After I Do, didn’t do much better. 

But once readers found Reid’s books, the appeal was clear. Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, 2021’s Malibu Rising, and 2022’s Carrie Soto Is Back, a loosely connected quartet, tell the stories of women navigating the pressures of fame in male-dominated spaces. Reid’s storytelling feels immersive—she takes you deep inside the worlds she builds, and delivers the gossipy details you want to hear. Her protagonists are specific, bold, and unapologetic. They have a way of lingering with you after the story ends. “You feel like they’re just sort of out there, living in the world somewhere,” says Ballantine publisher Jennifer Hershey, Reid’s editor on her four latest books, including Atmosphere.