Description

Funny and heartbreaking, Writers & Lovers by Lily King is the bitingly clever story of Casey, a young writer who has lost her direction in life. Until two men step into her world and offer her two very different futures . . .

The New York Times Bestseller
‘Captivating, potent, incisive, and wise’ – Madeline Miller, author of Circe
‘Extremely funny’ – Sunday Times

Recently out of a devastating love affair and mourning the loss of her beloved mum, Casey is lost. The novel she has been writing for six years isn’t going anywhere, her debt is soaring, and at thirty-one, with all her friends getting married and having kids, she feels too old for things to be this way.

Then she meets Silas. He is kind, handsome, interested. But only a few weeks later, Oscar – older, fascinating, troubled – walks into her life, his two boys in tow. Suddenly Casey finds herself at the point of a love triangle, torn between two very different relationships that promise two very different futures. And she’s still got to write that book . . .

‘Suffused with hopefulness and kindness’ – Ann Patchett
‘Exquisite’ – Sunday Telegraph
‘Funny and immensely clever’ – Tessa Hadley
‘Reading the book feels like waiting for clouds to break – a kind of gorgeous agony’ – Guardian
‘I loved this book’ – Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher Review

Romance, humour, a touch of tragedy, Writers & Lovers has what you want from a good, involving read -- The Times, Best fiction books of the year 2020 Dangerously romantic, bold and fearless enough to imagine the possibility of unbounded happiness . . . this story of a grieving, struggling writer torn between two suitors delivers such pure joy that there may be no surer antidote to 2020's woes. -- Washington Post, Best Books of 2020 Smart, funny . . . somehow combining a crowd-pleasing literary romcom with a portrait of devastating grief. I loved its beautiful writing and light, intelligent handling of human fragility. -- Clare Carlisle, TLS Books of the Year A wry and funny account of a thirtysomething's struggles to become a novelist that deliciously sends up puffed-up male writerly egos along its way * Sunday Times * Wise, witty and generous-spirited . . . She's brilliant on the trials and tribulations of restaurant workers and the struggles of aspiring writers, complete with rejection letters and constant doubt that their novels are any good * Independent.co.uk * This book!!! I beg you to read it, I love it madly! It's touching and clever and the main character is so loveable! -- Marian Keyes King's writing is spirited, clever and funny, and her novel is better than most others you'll read this year. * Evening Standard * Smart, funny and a breeze to read * Metro * Puzzling and beautiful . . . Reading the book feels like waiting for clouds to break - a kind of gorgeous agony * Guardian * Infused with tenderness and wry wit in equal measure, Writers & Lovers is King's best book yet. * Irish Times * If you like smart, acerbic but ultimately life-affirming fiction, you'll love it * Stylist * Witty and affecting, Writers & Lovers explores where grit can get you, even when everything appears to be falling apart. * i newspaper * A smart, witty book * Daily Mirror * Romantic and funny, this smart, witty book takes a wonderfully life-affirming look at love, literature and second chances. * Daily Express * A vivid, funny and altogether real look at what living a creative life means for a woman * Elle Magazine (USA) * Writers & Lovers stole my heart from its first pages. I am in love with this book. In. Love. This deep dive of a novel will stay with me forever -- Elin Hilderbrand, author of Summer of '69 Lily King writes masterfully about desire and loss, creativity and inspiration, and how each overlaps and influences the other -- Christina Baker Kline, author of A Peace of the World Intimate and vulnerable . . . Lily King's novel follows a deeply relatable protagonist navigating a whole menu of crises surrounded by a cast of genuine, vivid characters . . . The book occupies a small space, but packs it to the brim with humanity. * Entertainment Weekly * This novel will become a defining classic for struggling young writers. * Vulture * A comic and compassionate novel . . . With wit and what reads like deep insider wisdom, Ms. King captures the chronic low-level panic of taking a leap into the artsy unknown and finding yourself adrift, without land or rescue in sight. -- Maureen Corrigan * Wall Street Journal * A knowing look at the pursuit of a life in the arts, with a protagonist you'll root for. * Marie Claire * King has created . . . someone akin to Sally Rooney's Frances in Conversations with Friends . . . The novel is a meditation on trying itself: to stay alive, to love, to care. That point feels so fresh, so powerfully diametrically opposed to the readily available cynicism we've been feasting on . . . King wants us to keep trying, through whatever means necessary, to beat the odds. * Boston Globe * This smooth, deliberate chronicle of creation keeps the men in their place and Casey firmly rooted at the center of her own story. Instead of casting her as a woman torn between archetypes of male creativity, Writers & Lovers portrays her as a woman in thrall to her own generative processes, a devotee to the art of (her own) attention . . . a classic bildungsroman for struggling artists everywhere. * Los Angeles Times * Gorgeous -- Elizabeth Strout, author of My Name is Lucy Barton Unflinching and ultimately buoyant in its depiction of the courage and grit required to stay creative, this is essential reading for any aspiring author * Mail on Sunday * My favourite of Lily King's books so far. Exuberant and affirming, it's funny and immensely clever, emotionally rare and strong. I feel bereft now I've finished -- Tessa Hadley, author of Late in The Day Delightful . . . warm, funny and sharply observed . . . an affecting, uplifting exploration of the risks and rewards of opening up * Daily Mail * I loved this book from the first paragraph . . . honest and riveting and insightful about creativity and life. -- Curtis Sittenfeld A novel with the broad embrace of a 1990s Richard Curtis film . . . There's romance, there's a moral journey and there are characters with amusing foibles. What's more, the gags are impeccable. It's a story sweetly poised between hard truths and hilarity, in which the heroine discovers she has what it takes to not only endure but prevail. And that's a message we all need in these difficult times. * Sunday Times * A wry and perceptive coming-of-age story -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer * Writers & Lovers made me happy . . . suffused with hopefulness and kindness. Lily King writes with a great generosity of spirit. -- Ann Patchett Exquisite . . . a warm and buoyant romance -- Book of the Week * Sunday Telegraph * Lily King is one of our great literary treasures and Writers & Lovers is suffused with her brilliance. It is captivating, potent, incisive, and wise, a moving story of grief, and recovering from grief, and of a young woman finding her courage for life -- Madeline Miller, author of Circe