Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2017 novel about a fictional Hollywood icon that became a BookTok phenomenon in 2021, sparking conversations about bisexual representation, Old Hollywood, and LGBTQ+ stories in mainstream fiction.
The BookTok Explosion
Published in June 2017, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo sold steadily but quietly for four years. Then June 2021 hit, and BookTok discovered it.
Readers posted emotional reactions to the twist, praised the complex bisexual protagonist, and created fan-casts for the inevitable adaptation. The book spent over 60 weeks on the NYT bestseller list — most of those in 2021-2022, years after publication.
Why It Resonated
Bisexual visibility: Evelyn Hugo is a glamorous, complex, unapologetically bisexual woman — rare in mainstream fiction. BookTok readers, many of them queer, championed the representation.
Old Hollywood glamour: The novel’s Golden Age setting, scandal-filled narrative, and tragic romance hit the sweet spot of escapism and emotional depth.
The twist: Without spoiling, the book’s reveal devastated readers. TikToks of people sobbing at 2 AM became the best marketing.
Cultural Conversation
The hashtag became a space for discussing bi erasure in media. Readers pushed back against reviews that labeled Evelyn as “secretly gay,” insisting her bisexuality was central to the character.
Fan-casting debates dominated: Who should play Evelyn in the adaptation? Suggestions ranged from Ana de Armas to Hailee Steinfeld to a CGI-de-aged Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Publishing Impact
Taylor Jenkins Reid became a BookTok darling. Her other novels (Daisy Jones & The Six, Malibu Rising) also surged. By 2022, she was one of the best-selling authors in the US.
Netflix eventually optioned the rights, with a film in development.
Sources
- New York Times bestseller tracking 2021-2022
- TikTok trend analysis June-December 2021
- Atria Books (Simon & Schuster) sales data