cover image The Book of Jane

The Book of Jane

Anne Dayton, May Vanderbilt, . . Broadway, $12.95 (294pp) ISBN 978-0-7679-2655-3

A lighthearted chick lit version of the Book of Job? Improbably, it works, primarily because of the marvelous humor and urbane sensibility that mark this third novel from the authors of Consider Lily and Emily Ever After . On a dime, New York publicist Jane Williams loses everything she holds dear—her boyfriend, her cool West Village apartment, her enviable job. To top it off, her dog gets sick, she's released as Brownie troop leader to the daughters of Manhattan's glitterati, and she's got a bizarre facial rash, making Jane lament that her life is now "worse than a country music song." Slowly, Jane comes to see God's love and providence in new ways—"though he hides it well, God must still be in charge," she muses—and is surprised to find herself developing romantic feelings for a Darcy-esque nemesis. Sex and the City without the sex, Dayton and Vanderbilt's novel is a laugh-out-loud love song to New York City. (June 12)