Book after Book

By Nina Bell Published by Sphere , an imprint of Little, Brown Big family drama is what Nina Bell is famous for writing about and rightly so. At first I was attracted by the beautiful cover of The Empty Nesters . My interest was piqued by the blurb. The book then proceeded to conquer me. What a cleverly-plotted novel! To make it really simple: Clover and Laura became friends when their children started school and have spent years sharing school runs, sleepovers, holidays etc. Alice is their friend too but – as a single mother trying to build a successful business – she’s mostly been receiving the two women’s help while unable to give much support in return. But helping each other out is what friends are for, right? Now that the kids have all grown up and are leaving their parents’ homes to go onto university, Laura and, especially, Clover are looking forward to a more equal relationship with Alice. Now that she has found success and her daughter is away at Oxford, though, she doesn’t s...

Hello Nina! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of your latest novel, The Empty Nesters . Can you tell us what it is about? A: Three friends – Clover, Laura and Alice – have shared school runs, sleepovers and holidays for years, but now that their children are all off to uni, the friendship begins to crack apart. Alice wants what Clover and Laura have, while Laura faces two of her marriage’s major challenges. And Clover has to work out what’s important in her life – and then fight for it. I can’t wait to read it! Where did you take the inspiration to write this novel? Are you perhaps an empty nester yourself? A: Our twins left home – one for gap year, one for uni – in September 2008, and it’s taken this long to process how it turns your life upside down. It’s exciting – all that extra time and new opportunities. But sad too – even the dog obviously misses them. The Empty Nesters was published on the 1st September. At the time of this interview, you haven’...