Lillian on Life

I absolutely loved it. A delight . . . so fresh and clever and subversive * Kate Atkinson, author of Life After Life *
A beautifully written, deft debut; edgy, elegant Lillian will stay with you * Adele Parks *
I completely loved Lillian on Life. What a great voice, what energy and wit . . . very original and often extremely funny * Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves *
A delicious, sweet-sad debut novel * Sainsbury's Magazine *
A dazzling first novel . . . In short vignettes, Lillian looks back, drawing an impressionistic portrait of a bold life full of ad­ven­ture - erotic and otherwise - in prose spiked with unflinching observations, riotous riffs and poignant reflections * Washington Post *
From the moment I caught sight of the book cover I was hooked . . . I read Lillian on Life in one sitting, very swiftly as though she were telling me her stories and giving me advice. I might have raced through it, but I know I'll read it again * The Mitford Society *
A bold and witty narrator . . . impossible to put down * Image *
It's rare that you find a book that's so easy to read yet so difficult to forget, but this debut novel will stay with you and have you questioning your own love life for weeks after finishing it . . . Think Sex and the City meets Rona Jaffe's 1958 novel The Best of Everything * Stylist *
[Lillian on Life is] written in a strangely companionable style, like you were sharing a night of secrets and girl chat with an old friend. It felt at once both familiar and surprising and kept me reading on to find out all the fascinating things that Lillian had done in her life. Lester has created a likeable heroine and an enjoyable story * lisatalksabout.com *
I will be recommending Lillian to many other women of my acquaintance. Her passion, achievements and self-effacing observations have the potential to entertain and inspire us all * Never Imitate *
The snapshots build into a witty, candid account of those little dilemmas that the average woman meets every day - except that Lillian is far from average. In fact, I wish we could have lunch * Saga *
Try not to fall in love with Lillian, Alison Jean Lester's vivacious, funny and charming heroine in this excellent debut novel . . . A gorgeous read, at moments heartbreaking, often joyful and mostly unforgettable * Red *
What emerges is a voice so quirky and candid, a story so rich in telling detail, that it is easy to forget this is a novel, not a memoir. I wish Lillian were real and could do lunch - she'd be a hoot * Lady *
I'll never forget Lillian on Life. Looking backward, she's brutally honest about her needs, her lovers, her parents. Salinger could have invented her . . . Roth would have loved her . . . and so will you. A rare book, a little raunchy, but very rich and very real * Ilene Beckerman, author of Love, Loss and What I Wore *
Lillian on Life is a quirky book with a very deep heart and soul. I found it full of life and full of wisdom * Erica Jong *
In this remarkably mature first novel, Alison Jean Lester has channeled the worldly yet wistful elegance of Colette to portray an unforgettable heroine. Lillian's provocative reflections on love, vanity, sexual intimacy, and surviving as an independent woman over half a century are deeply moving * Julia Glass, author of Three Junes and The Widower’s Tale *
What a splendid book! By turns acerbic and warm, urbane and homespun, Lillian on Life is - like its protagonist - charming, funny, and unabashedly smart. But as slender and enjoyable as this book is, it's much more than simply a lark. Each elegantly compressed chapter leaves us luxuriating in thought: about the snippets of experience so vividly depicted, and about those that have been, with perfect art, left out' * Leah Hager Cohen *