Reviews, News & Interviews

Elle Magazine, Shelf Life interview with Lily King. See Full Interview

— Elle Magazine, November 16, 2021

The author of “Writers and Lovers” talks about her new short story collection, “5 Tuesdays in Winter” Interview with Hope Reese on Medium

— Human Parts, November 10, 2021

Which books are likely to make this year’s Booker longlist tonight? See List

— The Irish Times, July 27, 2020

21 Best Books of 2020: The Books Getting Us Through This Wild Year (So Far) See List

— Vanity Fair, July 23, 2020

“If you’re interested in reading about a smart, vulnerable, and painstakingly real protagonist who is dealing with the passing of her mother and a crushing breakup while still trying to put her best work out there, then you have chosen the right book.” See List

— Real Simple, July 20, 2020

“The last book I truly loved was Lily King’s Writers and Lovers. I was shamefully late to this title, so I’m not breaking any news here, but it’s an incredible book. A portrait of a (female) artist as a young woman, it is also a romance novel and belated coming-of-age story about a young woman who is determined to pursue a career as a writer when most of the people she set out with on this creative journey have detracted to more practical pursuits. I generally find books about writers to be inert and too interior, but I would have happily stayed in this protagonist’s head indefinitely. Reading this book was like finding a friend.” See List

—Vogue, July 3, 2020 by Chloe Schama

“It places the writer’s life at the center of the story: the politics, the rivalries between writers, the jobs they take just to ensure that they can eat, and especially how male writers are taken more seriously than their female peers. King shares these insights with a fresh perspective and an authenticity that suggests she draws upon personal experience.” Read More

— Christian Science Monitor, June 29, 2020, By Joan Gaylord

“Writers & Lovers succeeds in all its particulars. 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.” Read Review.

— The Sunday Times, May 17, 2020 reviewed by Johanna Thomas-Corr

Chatter on Books Listen to Podcast Interview

— with Torie Clarke, May 5, 2020

Zibby Owens Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books Listen to Podcast & Instagram Live

— with Zibby Owens, April 27, 2020

Musing the Artist Podcast Listen to Podcast Interview

— with Montse Anchee, April 19, 2020

Avid Reader Show Listen to Podcast Interview

“One of the elements of your book I found particularly beautiful was the specificity of Casey’s grief, the way an old folk song or group of geese remind her so viscerally of her mother. Everyone grieves differently, of course, but I’m wondering how your own experience influenced the writing of those moments. And how you chose to convey Casey’s grief in this way.?” Read Interview.

— BOMB, March 23, 2020, Interview by Francesca Giacco

“Writers & Lovers” made me happy. Even as the narrator grieves the loss of her mother and struggles to make art and keep a roof over her head, the novel is suffused with hopefulness and kindness. Lily King writes with a great generosity of spirit.” Read More.

— Ann Patchett for The New York Times, March 18, 2020

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman on the Road to Happiness. “King’s novel is help of a sort, an unmistakable broadside against fiction’s love affair with macho strivers, even — or especially — when layers of lyricism and tenderness coat their machismo.” Read Review.

— New York Times, Book of the Times, March 10, 2020, by John Williams

New England News Public Radio Collaborative Listen to Interview

— by Morgan Springer, March 5, 2020

“Casey’s struggles with her writing are familiar to most of us. So, it feels like a gift from Lily King when Casey stands up and says her novel is “The place where I am most myself. Maybe some of you … have found this place already. Maybe some of you will find it years from now. My hope is that some of you will find it for the first time today by writing.” Were you writing for your younger self, or for us strivers?” Read Interview.

—Dead Darlings, March 3, 2020, Jane Rich Edwards

Droll Wit And Delightful Details Make 'Writers & Lovers' A Winning Read. Read More.

—NPR Book Review, March 5, 2020 by Heller McAlpin

“Jane Austen said, ‘Man has the advantage of choice; woman only the power of refusal,’ but Casey is determined to hold out for a plot on her own terms. The result is an absolute delight, the kind of happiness that sometimes slingshots out of despair with such force you can’t help but cheer, amazed.” Read More.

— The Washington Post, March 4, 2020, by Ron Charles, host of Totally Hip Book Review

“In high school I was fed a full diet of male writers, from Homer to Shakespeare to Wordsworth to Faulkner and Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Plus — because it was New England — a few heavy servings of Cheever and Updike.” Read More.

— Literary Hub, March 3, 2020 by Lily King

Writers & Lovers author Lily King talks Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Judy Blume, more pop culture inspirations. Read Interview.

— ew.com, March 2, 2020

“I saw a bubble of hope in the wreck of Casey’s life that made me want to find out how she turns it all into something that floats. Also, I love books about wait staff. And writers.” Read More.

— New York Times Book Club, by By Elisabeth Egan

“Writers & Lovers, while describing the intense effort of putting words in order, feels effortless, or at least like an unconscious natural process. King’s sentences are like layers of silt and pebbles condensed into sedimentary rock — distinct from one another but fitted into an indestructible whole.” Read More.

Los Angeles Times, By Hillary Kelly, March 1, 2020

“You can’t make a good spaghetti sauce with rotten tomatoes,” says the author of “Writers and Lovers” and other novels.” Read Interview.

-– By the Book, New York Times, February 27, 2020

Writers & Lovers’ Review: Kidding on the Square

“In Lily King’s latest, a young writer adrift in Cambridge, Mass., fights off doubts about the life she’s chosen.” Read More.

— Wall Street Journal, by By Maureen Corrigan, Feb. 28, 2020 

“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.” Read More.  

— Boston Globe, February 27, 2020, By Amy Pedulla

This Spring’s Most Anticipated New Books, in Pictures.  See Art.

-– New York Times Magazine, Fashion Edition, February 23, 2020

“The characters feel like flesh and blood humans. The specificity with which she describes the nuances of working in a restaurant—all spot-on. You’re right there with her, and she makes for great company.” Read More.

-– Katie Yee, Book Marks Assistant Editor

[A] charmingly written coming of age story.

—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

King leaves no barrier between readers and smart, genuine, cynical, and funny Casey. A closely observed tale of finding oneself, and one's voice, while working through grief.

— Booklist (starred)

This novel will become a defining classic for struggling young writers. Read More.

— Vulture, 32 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2020

King’s, elegant, droll follow-up to Euphoria traces an aspiring novelist’s effort to find herself after turning 30 and losing her mother. Read More.

— Publishers Weekly

While never minimizing the seriousness of Casey’s personal problems, the book is also funny and romantic and hard to put down, full of well-observed details of restaurant culture and writer’s workshops. It’s hard to imagine a reader who wouldn’t root for Casey. Read More.

— Library Journal (starred)

King is one of those rare writers who can entwine sadness, hilarity and burning fury in the briefest of moments.

— BookPage (starred)

Named a 2020 Book You Should Pre-Order Now by Marie Claire. “Lily King knows exactly how to combine love, grief, creativity, and balance.” Read More.

— Marie Claire, March 2020

“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.” Read More.

— Entertainment Weekly, March 2020