Writers & Lovers by Lily King is a thoughtful, sometimes humorous and beautifully written novel about 31 year old Casey, an aspiring writer. She is unable to really make progress with her first novel written while she is dealing with the loss of a relationship, enormous debt and the unexpected death of her mother. Too keep food on the table, she waitresses at an upscale restaurant in Harvard Square while she lives in a small, moldy room next to a garage. She has spent time at a writers’ retreat where she imagined writing pages but comes away with almost nothing. Her landlord confronts her at one point questioning why Casey thinks she has something to say, but Casey thinks, “I don’t write because I think I have something to say. I write because if I don’t, everything feels worse.”

We follow Casey as she becomes involved with two men: Oscar, an older man, a published author with two sons he is raising alone, and Silas who is one of Oscar’s students in a writing workshop. Casey admires Oscar and enjoys the two boys and enjoys feeling like she could be part of a family, but she also loves Silas who is about her age. I leave you to discover who she chooses.