Love in the Afternoon, and Evening

One of Town & Country's Best Books to Read This April

A drama-packed, format-busting tribute to the soap opera in all its messy, meaningful glory.

Part cultural analysis, part backstage tour, Love in the Afternoon, and Evening is a love letter to a misunderstood, often-dismissed American genre. Critics, friends, and soap obsessives Charlotte Druckman and Mayukh Sen invite readers into a conversation that ranges from topics both serious (race, reproductive rights, queerness) and fun (fashion! long-lost daughters! evil twins!). Like any great soap, they structure their essays for surprise and emotional payoff, including interviews with divas Susan Lucci (All My Children) and Erika Slezak (One Life to Live), an exploration of the greatest soap satire ever made, deeper cuts like a Who’s Who of the best-of-the-best actors on Falcon Crest, and much more. Together, these thoughtful essays get to the bottom of what makes a soap, tracing a throughline to reality TV and the shows that continue to hook us day and night with drama and emotion. Love in the Afternoon, and Evening will make you want to bust out your shoulder pads and binge your favorite show all over again.