When in Rome: A Novel

Amelia Rae Rose grew up living a simple but happy childhood with her single mother who was also her best friend. Amelia always loved music and began posting videos of herself singing the songs she wrote on YouTube when she was a teenager. One of her videos went viral when she was 16 and she started getting booked to sing at small events that didn’t pay well. Amelia never cared about the money though, all she cared about was the music. At 18, she met her manager Susan who helped her sign a record deal and gain international stardom.

Amelia enjoyed her first few years of fame and success, adopting her middle name, Rae, as a stage name to separate her personal and professional lives, pointing to the novel’s thematic interest in The Inherent Conflict Between Celebrity and Authenticity. Susan cared for her as if she were her family and her mother traveled on tour with her, always remaining close. Though Amelia made a few celebrity friends, she was never satisfied with the surface-level friendships and had similar problems in her dating life where she would only date other celebrities to give their mutual images a publicity boost.