05/19/2026
We had a sip and a chat (and a lot of laughs) last night in the garden at ! Our cocktail, “Famous for the Wrong Reasons” is their twist on a Naked and Famous - made with tequila instead of mezcal - custom crafted for our book club discussion of Julia Lanbein’s Dear Monica Lewinsky.
In ’s whip-smart, funny and bitingly self-aware sophomore novel, we follow Jean as she recalls a turbulent summer spent studying French churches and persecuted saints, watching the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal unfold on television, and sparking an unseemly relationship with her much older professor. Jean finds herself, mid-forties, petitioning from the floor of a church bathroom to an all-knowing canonized Monica Lewinsky. With moments of irony and beauty, and an array of saintly women, this novel—evocative and quirky—appealed to everyone at the table. The entire concept of a woman realizing how her own situation as a college student paralleled Monica Lewinksy’s experiences – and recognizing just how unbelievably terrible we all were in the way we thought and spoke about Monica – and then praying to Saint Monica – and then Saint Monica appearing and snarkily talking her through it all – is nothing short of BRILLIANT. Readers from our own group would appeal to saints Meryl Streep, Ulysses S Grant, and Lucille Ball, among others. They’ll make a saint out of anyone these days.
