When Life Gives You Lululemons

When Life Gives You Lululemons (2018), a novel by American author Lauren Weisberger, follows the absurd travails of three upper-class women living in the affluent suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut. A loose sequel to Weisberger's 2003 best-selling book, The Devil Wears Prada, it features some of the same characters. Its title is based on the popular brand of athletic leisurewear Lululemon commonly worn by the book's wealthy suburban characters.

The book is told from the perspectives of its three protagonists: Emily Charlton, Karolina Hartwell, and Miriam Kagan. Having left Runway Magazine where she worked for the despotic Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, Emily works as a PR agent in Los Angeles where a younger agent, Olivia Belle, steals most of her clientele. With her husband, Miles, away on business indefinitely in Hong Kong, Emily moves in with her friend Miriam in the suburbs of Greenwich, Connecticut, an affluent suburb where the wives of many New York businessmen and attorneys live. Looking to spend more time with her children, Miriam is in Greenwich on an extended leave of absence from her high-powered job as an attorney at one of New York City's most prominent law firms. This absence is made possible by the fact that her husband, Paul, made millions of dollars on the sale of the startup he founded. Finally, Karolina is a supermodel nearing the end of her career as the face of the L'Oreal personal care company. She lives in Greenwich after her Kennedyesque husband, Graham, a young senator vying for the presidency, kicks her out of their New York house after Karolina is charged with a DUI while driving her stepson Harry and a number of other children belonging to the Hartwells' rich friends.

Miriam is certain Karolina is innocent. For example, no breathalyzer test was administered during the arrest. Karolina was arrested based on open champagne bottles in the car, which she did not know were there. On Anderson Cooper's show on CNN, Graham announces that he plans to divorce Karolina, which comes as a shock to his wife. Moreover, he prohibits Karolina from seeing Harry, who, despite not being her biological son, has been raised by Karolina exclusively since he was two years old. It appears that Graham set up the DUI arrest so he can divorce Karolina without attracting public scorn. His aim is to marry Regan Whitney, thereby forging a political alliance with her father, a former president.



Rebuffing an offer from Miranda to return to Runway Magazine, Emily agrees to represent Karolina as her PR agent. Eager to clear Karolina's name, Emily also rejects Miles's offer to stay with him for an extended period in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Emily and Alistair, a single parent, begin a friendly flirtation. However, after they share a kiss at a party, Emily breaks off the flirtation to remain faithful to Miles.

Rather than publicly denounce the claim of alcoholism, Emily seeks to reestablish Karolina's reputation through a redemption narrative, which the public loves. Along with Miriam, Emily and Karolina take a spa trip to Utah under the guise of a visit to an alcohol rehabilitation clinic. Upon their return to Greenwich, Miriam represents Karolina in her divorce proceedings. During preliminary research, Miriam learns that the couple's inability to have a baby is not the result of Karolina's fertility problems as Graham led her to believe for years. Rather, Graham had had a vasectomy years ago and never told Karolina about it, subjecting her to years of expensive and sometimes painful fertility treatments.

Upon learning the extent to which Graham misled her, Karolina reveals to Emily that Graham, at the age of 17, accidentally killed a four-year-old girl with his car and fled the scene of the crime. Using their powerful political connections, Graham's family managed to keep Graham out of jail and the crime out of the press. Rather than alert the press, Emily asks Miranda to use her connections with the Whitney family to blackmail Graham so he will give Karolina custody of Harry. Miranda agrees, on the condition that Emily returns to work as her assistant at Runway Magazine.



After Graham grants custody of Harry to Karolina, Karolina feels compelled to tell Regan about the years Graham lied to her about his vasectomy. She also feels she must tell Regan about Graham's hit-and-run incident involving the four-year-old girl. While she is conflicted about doing so, Karolina cannot allow Regan to marry Graham without knowing about his crimes and years of dishonesty. Regan breaks up with Graham, revealing all of his secrets to the press. With his life and political career effectively over, Graham attempts to reunite with Karolina, but she rejects his advances. Finally, Emily realizes she is pregnant with Miles's baby in an unexpected but joyful turn of events.

According to Publishers Weekly, When Life Gives You Lululemons is a "page turning beach read."