Chasing Harry Winston All The Way To Borders

Lauren Weisberger wrapped up the book tour for her latest novel, Chasing Harry Winston, Tuesday evening at the Bailey’s Crossroads Borders Books and Music. The author of The Devil Wears Prada, breathless from her arrival to DC only moments earlier, warmly welcomed the crowd of about 65 and dove right into the storyline of Chasing Harry. Noting that she once sat through a self-indulgent author’s 55-minute reading, Lauren promised to spare her audience a similar ordeal.

Short but sweet were excerpts from the points of view of Emmy and Adriana, two members of a gal-pal trio, who make a pact to, within a year, drastically alter the course of their lives. The crowd of mostly women laughed knowingly, if a tad self-consciously, as Emmy perused the online “Mexican Adventure” photo album of her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend, the personal trainer Emmy had hired for him. Lauren cast an understanding look at the audience and shared, “True story, I swear. Not mine, but a friend’s. We’ve all been there, right? I know I have.”

After reading about Adriana, the gorgeous Brazilian, husband-hunting daughter of a supermodel, and her misadventures in petsitting a seemingly Tourette’s-afflicted parrot, Lauren took questions and offered some insight into her own writing process. “It’s grim,” she said flatly. “A process of punishment and reward…I’m aiming to put into practice doing a little bit every day… but, a lot gets crammed into the end.”

Maybe so, but when your debut novel spends six months on the New York Times Best Seller List, sells millions in hardback, is translated into 27 languages, and inspires an Academy Award-nominated performance by Meryl Streep, perhaps a little creative leeway is in order.