Three cheers--heck, make that four--for the writer who pulls off a fairly plotless novel. Naturally, it helps when a protagonist is unusually engaging, smart or sympathetic. In a neat hat trick, Lily King (Euphoria) plants all three qualities in Casey Peabody, the narrator of her plot-light but payoff-heavy fifth novel, Writers & Lovers.
Things aren't going well for 31-year-old Casey, and the novel on which she has been working for six years is so far from completion that it doesn't even have a title. She has recently returned to the Boston area, and to chip away at her debt, she works at Iris, an upscale restaurant in Cambridge's Harvard Square. One night, at a book party for the novelist Oscar Kolton, Casey meets another writer, Silas, and later accepts a date with him, which he proceeds to break.
Later, Casey encounters Oscar Kolton having brunch at Iris with his two young sons. A 47-year-old widower, Oscar woos Casey, and they start seeing each other. Eventually, Casey dates both men until Oscar invites her over for Sunday dinner so that she can get to know his kids. Now she feels obliged to pick a side: "I've reached the elimination round."
Despite Casey's habitual teariness, her wit and chirpy optimism carry Writers & Lovers. With its timeless themes--choosing between the practical and the creative life, choosing between "fireworks and coffee in bed"--the book's title, with its fulcrum-like ampersand, makes perfect sense. While romance is often a conundrum, resolving an artistic dilemma can be equally flummoxing. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer