No One Could Have Guessed the Weather

April 22, 2013
Screenwriter Casey’s debut novel entwines the lives of four women trying to survive and thrive in New York amid relationships, misunderstandings, and broken dreams. When Lucy Lovett’s husband loses his high-powered job and the couple is forced to move from London to a small apartment in New York, she worries about feeling isolated. But when her mother dies and Lucy takes a trip back to London, she recognizes the patterns of unhappiness in her old life and realizes that things in New York aren’t so bad. Soon she connects with Julia Kirkland, a TV writer; Christy, the trophy wife of an older, wealthy man; and Robyn, whose low self-esteem manifests as aggression. In dealing with their individual challenges, these women become more connected than they’d imagined. Casey’s bright, witty writing and scalpel-sharp insights create a quick pace, marred only by the inevitable shadow cast over the book by Sex and the City. But Casey’s debut leaves the reader eager for more. Agent: Allison Hunter, InkWell Management.

May 15, 2013
A subversively charming debut about a group of happily imperfect New Yorkers from Dublin-based Casey, wife of novelist Joseph O'Connor. The novel is bookended by Lucy's story: After the financial crash, Lucy, Richard and their two small boys are forced out of their posh London lives and move to Manhattan, where Richard makes due at a reduced salary, and they take over the apartment he kept for business. Lucy learns she's much nicer away from all the haves, and she discovers she's actually in love with her very kind husband. Lucy's new friend Julia, meanwhile, has a dilemma: Can she, a high-powered screenwriter, go on with a flaky yoga instructor? She thinks not, and so, shockingly, she leaves her husband, Kristian, and their children and has a little nervous breakdown, followed by a lot of career advancement. Meanwhile, Julia's best friend Christy (her husband, Vaughn, is a rich and powerful senior citizen) is learning, after the nanny's abrupt departure, that she likes taking care of her twin girls--especially when the dashing, fun-loving Irish doorman is with them. When Christy's 40-year-old stepdaughter Lianne insists Christy accompany her to an "equine assisted learning" retreat, Christy invites Julia, who invites Lucy (Christy is a bit jealous of this), and then Robyn finds her way in (although she's already part of the group in a way, having had affairs with both Vaughn and Kristian). The trip is a disaster for spoiled Lianne, but Robyn decides she's had it with Ryan, whose promising literary debut has been followed by years of Robyn slaving away at a mattress showroom for his art. Each chapter feels like a well-composed short story, and the collected whole is fresh and bright with characters that defy expectations. Clever and witty: the best kind of summer book.

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November 15, 2012

Bad news for Lucy: she and her husband have lost everything in the financial crash and must move the family into a tiny East Village apartment. But then the good news: Lucy falls in love with New York (as the author herself did).

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Lucy's husband loses his job and moves the family from posh London to a very nice life in New York (no private school for the two boys but a good public one). She is untethered and unhappy until the death of her alcoholic mother, when everything snaps into place, and she loves her husband again. Lucy then connects with three other women, including Julia, a scriptwriter and apparent ice queen, who chooses a month away at therapy over her husband and children, and Christy, married to a very old, very rich man and who, when her nanny quits, finds purpose and fun in raising her two daughters herself. Smart writing keeps each woman's path to happiness from being too sappy, and the humor is dry and subtle. The main plots play against each other like a series of connected short stories, with one more about regular-mom Robyn, who decides to fall for a rich man who can make her life easier. Casey, a scriptwriter, doesn't tug at your heartstrings, but her novel makes for a quick and amusing read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)