Title: Writers & Lovers
Author: Lily King
Published: 2020
Call #: FIC King
http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=King&title=writers
One by one, all of Casey Peabody’s grad school friends caved – taking on careers that had nothing to do with their craft. All of them vowed to have creative careers, hopefully writing the next great American novel. She knows they hope to have time to write again but won’t. While it might be the responsible move, she can’t allow herself to give up on her dream, it’s all she has left.
After unexpectedly losing her mother and breaking apart from the love of her life in quick succession, Casey finds herself in a dismal state. She is left with only her brother and father; the latter is still resentful that Casey didn’t follow his dream for her to become a professional golfer. The only consistent thing in her life has been the novel she has been writing for the past 6 years. It is what drives her to bike three miles to her job hustling tables at an overpriced brunch restaurant in Harvard Square serving coddled ivy league students. It is what keeps her motivated and disciplined. It connects her to other people. It is what makes living in a semi-remodeled garden shed attached to a friend’s garage acceptable, as it is somewhere that is just hers. It is what allows her to wake up especially early, even after barely sleeping for worry of the debt collectors hunting her down for heaps of student loan debt. Writing is also what leads her to meet two very different love interests and opens doors to worlds she never imagined.
Described in several reviews not only as one of the best of 2020, but also as a “portrait of an artist as a young woman,” Writers & Lovers is exactly that. While at heart, it is a coming-of-age story, it is full of brave insight on being a young woman – those observations which are universally true now and in 1997 when the book takes place. Lily King invites us into the depths of the struggling artist’s brain, all while keeping it airy and sprinkling it with intelligent humor. We see the agony and triumph writers go through, whether life cooperates or not.
Erin I.
Popular Materials Assistant.