Meg Cabot's new young adult novel, QUEEN OF BABBLE IN THE
BIG CITY reunites us with Lizzie Nichols as she journeys
from her comfortable Ann Arbor suburban life to the "City
That Never Sleeps". Recently back in America from a summer
spent in the romantic countryside of France, Lizzie faces a
not-quite-quarter-life-crisis. She decides, with best
friend Sharri in tow, to follow her new beau Luc to New York
City and pursue her dream to refurbish vintage wedding
gowns. Like every struggling college graduate, Lizzie
attempts to find an apartment, pay her bills, land her
'dream' job, and nurture her relationship with Luc, who
seems more in love with himself than with Lizzie.
Cabot creates a New York where even the grimy puddles appear
clean. As Lizzie falls in love with the city, we fall in
love with her. New York is her cradle as she moves between
confusing love affairs and an unsure future. She never
glorifies the negative aspects of living in New York, but
she does embrace the challenges she faces. Although Lizzie
has whinny and indecisive moments, as the story progresses,
she grows and becomes a compelling character that is fun to
follow along on her journey.
Lizzie Nichols is back, pounding the New York City
pavement and looking for a job, a place to live, and her
proper place in the universe (not necessarily in that
order).
When "Summer Fling" Luke uses the L word
(Living Together), Lizzie is only too happy to give up her
plan of being postgrad roomies with best friend, Shari, in a
one-room walk-up in exchange for cohabitation with the love
of her life in his mother's Fifth Avenue pied-à-terre,
complete with doorman and resident Renoir.
But
Lizzie's not as lucky in her employment search. As Shari
finds the perfect job, Lizzie struggles through one
humiliating interview after another, being judged
overqualified for the jobs in her chosen field—vintage-gown
rehab—and underqualified for everything else. It's Shari's
boyfriend Chaz to the rescue when he recommends Lizzie for a
receptionist's position at his father's posh law firm. The
nonpaying gig at a local wedding-gown shop Lizzie manages to
land all on her own.
But Lizzie's notoriously big
mouth begins to get her into trouble at work and at home
almost at once—first at the law firm, where she becomes too
chummy with Jill Higgins, a New York society bride with a
troublesome future mother-in-law, and then back on Fifth
Avenue, when she makes the mistake of bringing up the M word
(Marriage) with commitment-shy Luke.
Soon Lizzie
finds herself jobless as well as homeless all over again.
Can Lizzie save herself—and the hapless Jill—and find career
security (not to mention a mutually satisfying committed
relationship) at last?
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