Rose Dommu on Her Debut Novel ‘Best Woman,’ the Trans ’90s Rom-Com Update We Deserve

Some books feel destined to be optioned. Take journalist and author Rose Dommu’s debut novel, Best Woman—about Julia, a bisexual trans woman who goes home to Florida from New York to ride out her brother’s wedding (and try to capture her intimidatingly cool high-school crush’s heart)—which manages to feel deeply cinematic without ever sacrificing laughs or hewing to the audience’s expectations. (After all, who says a leading lady can’t sow a little pre-nuptial tumult in the estimable company of hot people of all genders?)

This week, Vogue spoke to Dommu about our current rom-com flop culture, writing a heroine who rejects the notion of “happily ever after,” the interconnected beauty and pain of queer and trans life in Florida, and her persuasive theory that “weddings are gender.”

Vogue: How are you feeling ahead of pub day?

Rose Dommu: Crazy. Like, actually insane, but ready for it to be tomorrow.

Where, when, and how did the idea for Best Woman first come to you?

I’ve been thinking about it on and off for almost a decade. I had the idea of setting a story about a trans woman at a wedding, because weddings are kind of the one holdover we have of this other world filled with huge, fabulous parties where everyone comes out and there’s tons of operatic drama. That, combined with the experience of being trans and having to re-meet your family all over again, just seemed like the perfect combination to me for some really messy interpersonal family drama. I also love classic ’90s rom-coms like My Best Friend’s Wedding, and I really wanted to pay tribute to those, but through a more contemporary lens and with a trans protagonist.

Did you always know you wanted said protagonist, Julia, to incite bisexual chaos?

Yes, of course, there was no other choice. [Laughs.] That’s the one thing about a lot of classic ’90s rom-coms: we have lots of heterosexual chaos, but when you’re bisexual, there are so many more opportunities for chaotic nightmare behavior.

So true.

Julia was always going to have that identity because I wanted as many triangle points to touch as possible, and also because I wanted to explore a character in a romantic comedy whose goal wasn’t monogamy or some kind of perfect, tied-up-in-a-bow happily ever after. Even though Julia is really obsessed with her love interest, she even says at one point that she’s not looking for them to be together in some committed, monogamous relationship. That doesn’t have to be the end goal of all romance. That’s why I think rom-coms have become kind of stale and fallen out of favor. I mean, we’re seeing a bit more of them being made in the streaming era, but we’re not getting a lot of big-budget rom-coms, and I feel like in the book space, there’s so much romance but not as much romantic comedy—where the comedy is really more at the forefront.