Ella Berman’s third novel, L A Women, arrives like a glittering poison pill—beautiful to behold, bitter to swallow, and impossible to forget. Set against the sun-soaked backdrop of 1960s Los Angeles, this literary fiction masterpiece excavates the complicated friendship between two ambitious women writers, revealing the corrosive nature of envy and the devastating consequences of moral compromise.
The narrative alternates between the “Now” of summer 1975 and the “Then” spanning nearly a decade, as we follow Lane Warren, a successful novelist whose literary stardom has begun to wane, and Gala Margolis, a charismatic free spirit whose talent burns as brightly as her self-destructive tendencies. When Gala mysteriously disappears, Lane finds herself unable to complete the book she’s been writing about her former friend’s life—a book that was supposed to be her literary salvation.
The Architecture of Ambition
Berman’s greatest achievement lies in her unflinching portrayal of female ambition and the ways women can simultaneously support and sabotage each other. Lane Warren emerges as one of literature’s most compelling unreliable narrators—brilliant, calculating, and deeply damaged by a childhood marked by parental neglect and violence. Her relationship with Gala operates on multiple levels: genuine affection, professional rivalry, and something darker that Berman allows to simmer beneath the surface.
The author’s prose style mirrors her literary influences—there’s a deliberate coolness reminiscent of Joan Didion’s observational distance, combined with the psychological acuity of Patricia Highsmith. Berman writes with surgical precision about the Hollywood ecosystem, where creativity becomes currency and authenticity is the most valuable—and rarest—commodity.
The character of Gala Margolis represents everything Lane both admires and despises about uninhibited femininity. Gala writes with instinct rather than calculation, loves without reservation, and refuses to diminish herself for anyone’s comfort. Her relationship with Gabriel Ford, the doomed British rock star, provides some of the novel’s most tender moments, even as it illustrates how talent and self-destruction often travel hand in hand.
The Poison at the Heart of Paradise
What sets L A Women apart from other novels about female friendship is Ella Berman’s willingness to explore the uncomfortable truth that women can be each other’s most devastating enemies. The revelation that Lane deliberately sabotaged Gala’s publishing deal—telling editor Esther Mazer about Gabriel’s heroin addiction and implying that Gala’s writing was ghostwritten—lands with the force of a physical blow.
This betrayal, revealed through Lane’s own memories, transforms our understanding of everything that came before. Berman masterfully plants seeds of doubt about Lane’s motivations throughout the narrative, making the reader complicit in Lane’s self-deception until the truth becomes undeniable.
The supporting character of Charlie McCloud serves as both Lane’s closest friend and her enabler, representing the type of powerful gay man who flourished in Hollywood’s shadows during this era. His relationship with Lane is one of mutual protection and shared secrets, though Berman suggests that even Charlie has limits to what he’ll tolerate in the name of loyalty.
Technical Mastery and Minor Shortcomings
Berman’s dual timeline structure works beautifully, creating tension as readers piece together what led to Gala’s disappearance while watching Lane’s present-day life unravel. The author captures the zeitgeist of late 1960s Los Angeles with remarkable specificity—from the Sunset Strip’s music scene to the literary salons of Laurel Canyon—without ever letting period details overwhelm the character-driven narrative.
However, the novel occasionally suffers from over-explanation. Berman sometimes spells out psychological insights that would be more powerful if left implicit. The repeated imagery of Lane seeing Gala’s ghost, while thematically appropriate, occasionally feels heavy-handed.
The pacing also stumbles slightly in the middle sections, where Berman seems to lose momentum as she builds toward the central revelation. Some scenes feel more like necessary plot mechanics than organic story development, particularly those involving Lane’s marriage to Scotty and her struggles with motherhood.
The Mother Question and Moral Reckoning
One of the novel’s most powerful themes concerns the fear of replicating destructive patterns. Lane’s terror that she’ll become the same kind of mother who damaged her—cold, absent, potentially violent—drives much of her psychological journey. The scene where she briefly abandons her daughter Audrey at Disneyland represents the novel’s emotional nadir, forcing Lane to confront the possibility that she’s already become the person she most fears being.
Berman’s exploration of motherhood avoids sentimentality while acknowledging the genuine terror many women feel about their capacity for nurturing. Lane’s relationship with her daughters serves as both punishment and potential redemption, though the author wisely avoids easy answers about whether people can truly change their essential nature.
Legacy and Literary Context
“L A Women” by Ella Berman joins a distinguished tradition of novels about female artists and the price of ambition, drawing obvious comparisons to works like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Other Woman by Sandie Jones. However, Berman’s novel is darker and more psychologically complex than most contemporary women’s fiction, refusing to offer the catharsis of redemption or the comfort of clear moral boundaries.
The book also serves as a meditation on the nature of storytelling itself. Lane’s inability to complete her book about Gala without knowing how her story ends reflects deeper questions about whether we can ever truly know another person, and whether the act of writing about someone inevitably becomes an act of exploitation.
Final Verdict
“L A Women” by Ella Berman is a remarkable achievement—a novel that manages to be both a period piece and a timeless exploration of human nature. Berman has crafted a story that will make readers uncomfortable in the best possible way, forcing them to confront their own capacity for betrayal and self-deception.
While the novel has minor structural flaws and occasionally telegraphs its themes too obviously, these are small criticisms of what is essentially a masterful work of literary fiction. Berman’s willingness to make her protagonist genuinely unlikeable while keeping her compelling speaks to her confidence as a storyteller.
This is a book that will linger long after the final page, raising questions about friendship, ambition, and the stories we tell ourselves to justify our worst impulses. For readers who appreciate complex female characters and moral ambiguity, “L A Women” by Ella Berman represents essential reading.
Similar Books to Explore
For readers who enjoyed the psychological complexity and literary ambition of “L A Women” by Ella Berman, consider these similar titles:
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt – Another exploration of destructive relationships among creative types
- Pitch Dark by Renata Adler – Innovative narrative structure and unreliable female narrator
- My Education by Susan Choi – Complex female friendships and sexual awakening
- The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer – Women’s ambition and mentorship relationships
- White Oleander by Janet Fitch – Mother-daughter relationships and 1970s Los Angeles setting
- Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion – The definitive novel of emptiness and alienation in Hollywood
- The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier – Female friendship across different social classes
- Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman – The author’s previous work, also exploring female relationships and moral complexity
Ella Berman’s previous novels include The Comeback (a Read with Jenna book club pick) and Before We Were Innocent (a Reese’s Book Club pick). Raised by former hippies and steeped in the music and art of the 1960s and ’70s, Berman brings authentic period detail and psychological insight to her exploration of Los Angeles literary culture.