Part of Casey’s trouble appears from the beginning of Lily King’s novel, Writers and Lovers, with a broken romantic relationship and her mother’s death. Her childhood backstory clues in even the amateur who only had Psych 101 to reasons why she may have a blindside in choosing her relationships. Abandoned by her mother when she was growing up, but establishing a later close relationship with her, juxtaposes with living with her coach father whom she ultimately has to report for the hole in his office wall that he uses to peer into the girls’ locker room.
The heart of the story revolves around her life with friends in her day job as a restaurant server, dodging bill collectors since she has maxed out her credit with college bills, six years of working on her novel, and two men offering different prospects for a life together. Unresolved grief over her mother’s unexpected death complicates her decision-making process with two main issues at stake for her. The first concern involves two men, one with two little boys who have an appeal to her that may stem from the lack of a family centered childhood and the other who has no additional attachments but shares her love of writing.
That six-year novel-in-the-making becomes the second big concern. Realistic pictures of her own doubts about its worth, encouragement from a friend in the writing business who has read and loved it, and an abundance of rejection letters make for an accurate picture of the angst and effort required of a debut novelist. Also true to the writing life, her glimpses of success cause as much anxiety as her failures.
The book was so intimate and realistic that I checked back a couple of times as I read to be sure this was a novel by Lily King and not an autobiography by Casey Peabody. I have no knowledge of the validity of the lovers half of the title since I am still married to the boy I fell for when I was sixteen, but the writers half is spot on!