Caroline Palmer’s Workhorse follows an ambitious intern amid the magazine era’s end

Caroline Palmer, a former Vogue staffer, is the author of the novel Workhorse, which is set at “the magazine” during the dying days of a golden age of women’s glossies in the first decade of the new millennium and follows Clodagh (Clo), a suburban twentysomething trying to break into that world.

The novel presents Clo as a deeply flawed protagonist — the reviewer describes her as a liar, a thief and an alcoholic who brims with class envy and internalised misogyny — and places her among the rituals and excesses of magazine life, from boozy lunches and free couture to petty cruelties and sharp cultural observations.

The book evokes precedents such as The Devil Wears Prada and other coming-of-age and grifter narratives, and the review praises Palmer’s wit and some razor‑sharp scenes, including Clo’s dark obsession with a colleague, Davis Lawrence, and the portrayal of her friend Harry as the story’s Holly Golightly.

The Guardian review is critical of the novel’s length and perspective, noting Workhorse runs to more than 500 pages and suggesting a full third could have been cut and that a close third‑person narration might have served better than spending so long inside Clo’s head. At the same time the review highlights moments of “truly brilliant” writing, such as a notably vivid description of a New York power cut, and says the book ultimately explores the emotional cost of perpetual outsider status and destructive ambition.

Key Topics

Culture, Workhorse, Caroline Palmer, Clodagh, Davis Lawrence, Vogue