Writers & Lovers

By: Lily King

Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman.

Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she has been writing for six years. At 31, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink. 

Writers & Lovers follows Casey - a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist - in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

©2020 Lily King (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

An absorbing listen

I listened to the audible production of “Writers and Lovers” by Lily King, narrated by Stacey Glemboski. I love listening to stories when the narrator’s voice adds another dimension to the tale. Glemboski did that for me. She brought the main character, Casey, to life.

Saying that, King’s prose provides the depth of Casey’s soul. Casey is 31 years old, carrying monstrous college debt ($71,000), trying to write her novel all while waitressing and making a pauper’s salary. All of Casey’s friends are “adulting”: high paying employment, homes, married, children, savings. But Casey’s passion is writing. She must write or she feels soul crushed. Oh, and her mom recently died, and she is smothered in grief.

It sounds depressing, and it is and it’s not. Casey’s waitressing job alone is fodder for readers. The sexual harassment by patrons, the insane chefs, the unreliable wait-staff, adding humor and dimension to the story. King writes Casey so realistically that you are her, living through all the crazy moments of a waitress.

And dating…yes, Casey has issues there as well. She has two suiters, each appealing for different reasons. King has the reader invested in Casey: who’s the best for her?

This is a story about the struggles of following your passion when the road is rocky and difficult. This is the first novel I’ve read by Lily King. She is an amazing writer.

3 people found this helpful

A refreshing heartfelt story

This book was a refreshing change. Author made me feel like we all have our own unique problems.The problems we have may not always work out the way we think but in some way they just may work out better than we thought they would. we all are aa little crazy

1 person found this helpful

Slow start, good finish

I loved the storyline of this book, but the first half is very slow, and I had a hard time feeling the chemistry between the characters. I feel the last quarter of the book made up for it, as I am a sucker for happy endings.

Heartwarming and hilarious

This book had it all! Totally loved it from beginning to end! You will love it

not much of a story line

i did not feel as though there was enough going on in this book. i kept listening and waiting for the real story to begin but nothing ever happened. Then, suddenly, it was over.

Fabulous, a book peopled by believable and wonderful characters.

A wonderful book about processing grief, dealing with fear, making connections with people, and mixing it all together with love for the written word. Nothing comes easily...Casey has been working on her book for six years. Her relationships have seemed promising but something always gets in the way. When there is a drastic change in Casey’s life, it isn’t magic. It comes after her perseverance and growth and struggle to keep going and not give up on what she must do. A favorite passage for me is near the end during a writing fair in a school when Casey describes the struggle to write what really matters, the discouragement that needs to be climbed over daily...but then the deep joy of realizing that this creation is where you live.

Quick Listen

It was a quick audio listen. I really enjoyed the book. It was easy to lose yourself and get captured in the story. It is 30 yr old trying to figure out everything life has thrown at her and how nothing has gone as planned.

Excellent

Such a good book. Well written and read. I look forward to more of Lily King novels. Great for being home bound!

it was good

not a book I would typically choose. I began #readwithjenna Jenna Bush from Today show. I enjoyed listening

deftly drawn characters

following a young woman who is struggling between love, grief and identity. her journey is circuitous and messy, but she finds her way.