Behind the fairy-tale debut novelist story

A big debut novel campaign and a protagonist who is zany and charming and insufferable and frustrating. Here is an exclusive interview with the author, Madeleine Gray.

Hi all, I didn’t get a chance to post this guest column while I was away — so here it is, a bonus piece on a really great new novel that is out today. This guest takeover is by Lucy Pearson — writer, bibliotherapist and library curator at The Literary Edit. When Lucy slid into my inbox pitching an interview with debut novelist Madeleine Gray, I was intrigued. Yet another young novelist being compared to Fleabag on a press release, when really, the novel stands up firmly on its own as a brilliant piece of work (publishing: we don’t always need Fleabag references!) One reader described this growing genre as “sad girls we love who make bad choices.” So, what makes this book different?

Green Dot is one of the most hyped books of the year and I’m always interested in learning more about the behind-the-scenes of how it all came to fruition as everyone’s route into publishing is so unique. What’s it actually like, behind the scenes? What was the process? How do film rights get snapped up? How do you make time for a novel alongside a job?