When Life Gives You Lululemons – Lauren Weisberger (2018)

When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger, published in 2018, is a witty, sharply observed novel set in the universe of The Devil Wears Prada. It follows Emily Charlton – the fierce and savvy former assistant to Miranda Priestly – as she navigates the glossy yet ruthless worlds of suburban motherhood, political scandal, and celebrity damage control. As the third book in Weisberger’s well-known series (The Devil Wears Prada, Revenge Wears Prada), it offers readers a smart satire on modern-day privilege, reinvention, and the armor women wear to survive it all.

Plot Summary

In Los Angeles, Emily Charlton sat by a glimmering infinity pool, watching the city lights stretch out like an ad for perfection. It was New Year’s Eve, and she should have been tipsy and celebratory. Instead, her skinny margarita tasted like obligation. Once the image-obsessed assistant to the fearsome Miranda Priestly, Emily had reinvented herself as a celebrity crisis manager. She lived for chaos, but even she wasn’t prepared for the late-night call from Helene, a frazzled Hollywood agent whose golden boy client, Rizzo Benz, had been caught partying in a Nazi costume. Emily was on a red-eye before the pool water could dry from her husband’s shoulders.

Across the country in Connecticut, Miriam Kagan was doing her best impression of a jogger, huffing along a suburban sidewalk in her Lululemons and faking fitness while battling self-doubt. Once a powerhouse attorney in Manhattan, Miriam had traded courtrooms for kindergartens, now navigating life among competitive mothers and monogrammed everything. Her mornings were chaotic – spilled pancakes, toy swords, and yogurt gone bad. She longed for structure, for the sharpness of her past life, but mostly, she wanted to breathe without feeling like she was failing.

In nearby Bethesda, Karolina Hartwell was playing mom-chauffeur, ferrying her son and his friends in the family Suburban. A former supermodel married to a rising senator, she had built a careful life, polished and poised. But everything unraveled in the flash of blue and red lights. Pulled over for reckless driving, accused of drunk driving with children in the backseat, Karolina was arrested on the side of her own street. Empty champagne bottles that she hadn’t seen were supposedly rolling around her backseat. Despite begging for a Breathalyzer, she was denied the test and thrown into a holding cell like a common criminal. Her husband, Senator Graham Hartwell, didn’t come to get her. He sent his best friend.

News of Karolina’s arrest spread like fire through tabloids and political blogs. Miriam, shocked by the headlines, reached out, remembering the young woman she had known in Paris during their school days. Karolina didn’t pick up. The scandal had done more than damage her image – it had erased her from the life she’d built. Graham distanced himself immediately, more worried about optics than his wife’s truth. His political ambitions took priority over the woman who had raised his child and stood beside him in every photo op. He offered her no comfort, no belief.

Emily arrived in New York only to be dismissed by Rizzo after a single meeting. The pop star didn’t understand the damage he’d caused, nor did he care. He preferred a younger, flashier PR handler with a million followers. Fired before even being hired, Emily stood in the lobby of a luxury building, abandoned by the industry she once ruled. Her power was fading, her relevance slipping, and suddenly, even the idea of returning to Miranda Priestly didn’t seem so impossible.

Out of options and short on pride, Emily accepted an invitation to stay with Miriam in Greenwich. There, in a house filled with screaming children and mismatched socks, Emily found a kind of sanctuary she hadn’t expected. Miriam and Emily, once part of entirely different worlds, fell into an odd but comforting rhythm. They drank coffee, dissected parenting hacks, and questioned their lives – one from the edge of burnout, the other from boredom.

Karolina, shunned by her husband and hunted by reporters, was hiding. Not in her mansion, but behind the careful walls of silence and shame. When she finally surfaced, it was Miriam who opened the door. Emily followed soon after, pulled by the scent of a crisis that wasn’t being managed. Over wine and whispered truths, the three women found in each other a kind of allegiance that had nothing to do with shared pasts and everything to do with being women who had been pushed too far.

Karolina revealed the cracks in her marriage – the cheating, the control, the quiet suffocation. Graham had staged the arrest, orchestrated the public humiliation to rid himself of a wife who no longer suited the presidential image. The betrayal was complete, calculated, and cruel. Emily, seeing the setup for what it was, decided it was time for a counterattack. She wasn’t about to let a man use power to bury a woman. Not this time.

With Emily’s connections and Miriam’s legal brain reignited, they began to plan. Not a scandal, but a resurrection. Karolina would not be erased – she would be redefined. They staged photo ops with her son, secured a tell-all interview, and rebuilt her public image from disgrace to grace. Karolina found her strength not in the spotlight but in reclaiming the truth she had been denied.

Emily rediscovered her fire in the process. This wasn’t about some spoiled pop star or designer crisis – it was about loyalty, justice, and revenge served cold. She didn’t need the approval of twenty-something influencers. She needed her spine back. Greenwich, with its over-scheduled children and Peloton moms, had done something unexpected – it had reminded her who she was.

Miriam, watching her old friends come alive again, began to see her own life differently. She wasn’t stuck, she was paused. And it was within her power to hit play again. She started taking legal consulting work, balancing spreadsheets with playdates. Her identity was not one or the other – it was all of it.

Together, they unraveled Graham’s web. They leaked the truth about the staged arrest, revealed his manipulation, and watched his campaign implode. The public turned on him, not for having a drunk wife, but for being the kind of man who would fabricate one. Karolina didn’t just get her reputation back – she got her voice, her pride, and eventually, her divorce.

As spring melted the Connecticut snow, the three women stood on Miriam’s porch, wineglasses in hand, laughter echoing across the lawn. They were bruised but not broken, flawed but not fragile. The suburbs hadn’t saved them, nor had the city. They had saved one another, piece by piece, truth by truth.

And as the sun dipped behind the trees, the only thing left to do was pour another glass and keep going.

Main Characters

• Emily Charlton: Once the icy and driven assistant to Miranda Priestly, Emily has reinvented herself as a crisis management expert to the stars. Still razor-sharp and sardonic, she struggles to stay relevant in an influencer-dominated world. Her motivations are rooted in professional survival and the desire to remain irreplaceable in a world obsessed with youth and image. Her arc reveals both her vulnerability and adaptability as she finds unexpected strength and loyalty in female friendship.

• Miriam Kagan: A former high-powered attorney turned stay-at-home mom in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut. Miriam is intelligent, self-deprecating, and still adjusting to her new suburban life filled with competitive parenting and SoulCycle classes. Her inner conflict revolves around reconciling her past ambition with her current domestic life. Through the story, she finds empowerment by reclaiming her voice and values.

• Karolina Hartwell: A former supermodel and senator’s wife who becomes the center of a political and personal scandal after a wrongful DUI arrest. Karolina is elegant, graceful, and grounded, but her life crumbles when she’s publicly shamed and discarded by her husband. Her arc is about rebuilding her life, asserting her truth, and reclaiming her dignity, with the help of her friends.

• Graham Hartwell: Karolina’s ambitious and emotionally distant husband, a U.S. senator with presidential aspirations. Graham is revealed to be calculating and ultimately self-serving, willing to sacrifice his wife for his political gain. His betrayal becomes a central catalyst in Karolina’s journey toward liberation.

• Helene: Emily’s industry contact and a former colleague, Helene serves as a bridge between Hollywood’s elite and the chaotic reality of managing celebrity disasters. Though she plays a supporting role, her character is pivotal in initiating the central crisis that brings Emily back into action.

Theme

• Female Empowerment and Solidarity: At its heart, the novel celebrates the power of female friendships. Emily, Miriam, and Karolina form an unlikely but fiercely loyal trio, supporting each other through personal and professional upheavals. Their bond underscores the strength women gain from collaboration rather than competition.

• Image, Reputation, and Media Manipulation: The narrative offers a biting critique of the media’s role in shaping public perception, particularly for women. Whether it’s through scandalous tabloid headlines or social media gaffes, the characters must constantly navigate a world where optics often matter more than truth.

• Reinvention and Identity: Each protagonist undergoes a personal transformation, questioning who they are beyond the roles assigned to them – PR guru, mom, or senator’s wife. The novel portrays reinvention not as a luxury but as a necessity for survival in a world that demands constant evolution.

• Privilege and Hypocrisy: Set against the backdrop of Greenwich affluence and political ambition, the novel skewers the absurdities of wealth and power. From cosmetic surgery parties to curated Instagram lives, it exposes the performative nature of success and the cost of maintaining appearances.

Writing Style and Tone

Lauren Weisberger’s writing style in When Life Gives You Lululemons is breezy, incisive, and laced with razor-sharp wit. She effortlessly switches perspectives among the three main women, using a third-person limited narrative that captures each character’s distinct voice and inner turmoil. The prose blends quick-fire dialogue, cultural references, and immersive detail, drawing readers into the glamorous but cutthroat worlds of PR, politics, and suburban parenting. Her language is crisp and contemporary, balancing humor with emotional resonance.

The tone of the novel is satirical yet sympathetic. Weisberger excels at skewering the excesses of modern life – from influencer culture to designer detoxes – while still showing genuine affection for her characters. The humor never descends into cruelty; rather, it serves to highlight the absurdity of the social systems the women navigate. This tone makes the book both a fun, fast-paced read and a thoughtful commentary on the roles women are expected to perform.