From the author of the bestselling Reese Pick The Three Lives of Cate Kay comes an enthralling new novel about a young movie director who bets her career on making a movie about two women basketball players turned star-crossed lovers in the 1950s and in the process finds her own voice.

With only one more film under contract after two flops, movie director Marion May is at a career crossroads and in desperate need of a win. It feels fated when at a Lakers game she meets Jaz Jones, a magnetic WNBA player whose passion for the game-and for its overlooked history-sparks an idea Marion can't shake. Jaz tells her about her coach, Harper Kidd, a once-brilliant athlete whose legacy was erased before it could begin.

In the 1950s, Harper Kidd was a rising star on the Hanes Hosiery team and a pioneer in women's sports-until a scandal exposed her romantic relationship with another player. At a time when queerness was criminalized, Harper walked away from the game she loved to protect the other woman. Only decades later, when a young, fiercely talented Jaz enters her orbit, does Harper find her way back to the court-and to herself.

As Marion sets out to write and direct Harper's story, collaborating closely with Jaz, Harper, and a fearless ensemble of actors, the project becomes more than a comeback film. It's a reckoning. Immersed in a lineage of women who fought to play, to love, and to be seen, Marion begins to confront the parts of herself she's long kept hidden. In bringing Harper's past to life, she helps restore a romance cut short-and discovers her own capacity for connection, courage, and love.

Kate Fagan's INSTANT CLASSIC is a radiant love letter to women's sports and queer identity as well as a gripping narrative that explores how the stories we tell can bridge decades, heal old wounds, and lead us back to who we truly are.