RHCB to Publish Young Adult Adaption of Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical Suffs
Following its celebrated Broadway run and national tour, the hit musical Suffs will reach a new generation of readers with the publication of SUFFS: A Novel Based on the Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical. The young adult adaptation was cowritten by the musical’s creator Shaina Taub and New York Times bestselling author Betsy Cornwell and will be published by Random House Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, on February 2, 2027. The announcement was made by Michelle Nagler, SVP & Publisher, Random House Books for Young Readers Group. Caroline Abbey, Editorial Director at Large, Random House Books for Young Readers, acquired North American rights from Dara Kaye at William Morris Endeavor and will edit the adaptation. The novel’s cover features original artwork by illustrator Gabi Hawkins.
Created by Shaina Taub and produced by lead producers Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman, with co-producers Malala Yousafzai and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Suffs earned six Tony Award nominations, winning Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. The production also won three Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best New Musical, earned the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album, and was filmed for PBS’s Great Performances. Taub made history as the first woman to independently win Tony Awards for both Best Book and Best Score in the same season. The musical recently completed its first national tour, bringing the acclaimed production to audiences across the country.
Now adapted for young adult readers, SUFFS brings to life the final years of the fight for women’s suffrage in America. It opens in 1913 with best friends Alice and Lucy heading to Washington, D.C., with a big, impossible plan—to organize the first-ever protest march down Pennsylvania Avenue. Alice and Lucy’s epic campaign soon fills with passionate, loud, stubborn women fighting against the president, the public, and often each other for a better world. They meet icons of the movement like Ida B. Wells, labor leader Ruza Wenclawska, and socialite Inez Milholland, clash and regroup, and discover who they really are . . . all while asking: How far are we willing to go for what we believe in? It’s a journey that will change the suffs, and the country, forever.
“Bringing this story to young adult readers is especially meaningful to me because at its core, Suffs has always belonged to the next generation,” says Taub. “I hope readers can see themselves in the suffs—in their ambition, their disagreements, and their hunger for change. The opportunity to dig even deeper into these characters with the brilliant Betsy Cornwell has been so satisfying, and I’m really excited for people to experience this story not only on the stage, but now on the page.”
“I fell in love with Suffs as soon as I heard its music: I was weeping and cheering for these women I’d never heard of who fought so hard for the right to vote,” said Cornwell. “Getting to work with the wonderful Shaina Taub on adapting her brilliant, vibrant show into a novel has been an absolute dream come true. I hope that this book, like the musical, will inspire a new audience to learn more about the suffs, and to take up their fight for justice and carry it into the future.”
At its core, SUFFS explores the urgency, complexity, and sacrifices required to create lasting social change. While rooted in the history of the women’s suffrage movement, the story speaks directly to contemporary conversations around civic engagement, protest, and women’s rights.
“After I saw Suffs on Broadway, I immediately wanted to learn everything I could about the courageous women featured in the show, their activism, persistence, and the complicated work of their progress,” says Abbey. “I am so thrilled to bring these characters to life on the page, where many more young people can meet them, be inspired, and learn that while the work is never done, it is up to them to pick up the picket sign and keep marching in the long fight for the causes they believe in.”
An audiobook edition will be released simultaneously by Listening Library.