Laura Castoro, A New Lu

A New Lu

Laura Castoro

Red Dress, Mar 2005, $12.95, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0373895143

In Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Lu Nichols works part-time at Five-O magazine for the mature woman. She and her long-time husband Jacob recently divorced, but not before one for the road. Their firstborn Dallas is driving Lu crazy with her marriage plans. Her new boss Tai Leigh is sarcastically sweet most of the time and condescending when she fakes being nice.

As Tai decides that the almost fifty Lu needs a makeover that the magazine will exploit, the victim feels nauseous but assumes bad oysters are the cause. However, her gorgeous doctor proves otherwise as that last fling with Jacob has left Lu pregnant. Her ex hides; her oldest is mortified; her boss wants Lu to provide a series of articles on the pregnant mature woman. Through all this Lu keeps on ticking and growing.

This chick lit turns fifty tale will give readers a pregnant pause that is everyone except the optimistic Lu who keeps her sanity through humorous asides mostly to herself (and the audience). The storyline is fun to follow because Lu pulls off the role of mature chickster. However, her aplomb also leaves the relational "tensions" with her daughter and former husband over the unborn look limpid. Sub-genre fans will laugh with Lu, a pregnant, fifty-year-old, stand-up comedic Pollyanna.

Harriet Klausner