August 12, 2025
WRITERS & LOVERS
WRITERS & LOVERS made me a Lily King fan. (I am the only person in the world who was underwhelmed by her previous novel EUPHORIA.) But I also don’t remember all that much about W&L, except that it offered a lovely reprieve from pandemic lockdown doldrums during the winter of 2020. And then @streetavocados told me that King’s forthcoming novel HEART THE LOVER has a connection to W&L, and she was wild about the new book, which seems to be sentiment among everybody who has read early copies, and so I decided I needed a refresh, to reread W&L, and I’m so glad I did. Never ever have I read such a polished story about a life that was such an absolute mess, sort of like those gorgeous absorbing illustrations in Shirley Hughes books of rooms with all kinds of stuff piled up on tables and stuffed into corners. The way she writes about waitressing too, her portrayal of Casey’s work a glimpse into another world with its own vernacular and bizarre rituals, and the gamble of a creative life, which is something I’ve thought a lot more about since I read this book the first time (when I was on the cusp of publishing the sophomore novel I was hoping would be my breakout hit). W&L is a novel about life itself, which is a crummy way to some up most novels, but with this one, I actually think it means something, a book about grief, love, disappointment, friendship, money, hope, dreams, and broken promises. The kind of art that reads as effortless. I can’t wait to read what comes next.
