Nesting deals with powerful themes of control, survival, and maternal love. What inspired you to write Ciara Fay’s story?
It all began with one single word. Back in 2020, I received a phone call from a radio producer who wanted to commission me to write a short story for a new series. She said I could write anything I wanted, but the story had to speak to the theme of ‘independence.’ I knew straight away what I wanted to write. At that time, we were at the height of the pandemic, and we were constantly being told ‘stay home, stay safe.’ But what if home was the least safe space you could be? Or if you didn’t have a home? I wrote a story called Present Perfect, about a woman called Ciara Fay, who is living in a hotel room with her two children, having escaped an abusive relationship. The story just explored a single day in their lives, but after it had been broadcast, I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters. I wanted to know what would happen to Ciara, and so I continued writing. The result was Nesting.
With the novel being set in Dublin and the housing crisis as a backdrop, how did you approach weaving social issues into Ciara's deeply personal story, and was there something specific about Dublin's housing situation that you wanted to highlight?
I started writing Nesting at the height of the pandemic, when we were all staying home much more than normal. I was painfully aware of the importance of home to our wellbeing and our freedom. The housing crisis was both political and deeply personal, as I had experienced housing insecurity myself. Moving between rented homes, at one time I struggled to find somewhere else to live. It was really stressful. I don’t want to spoil the story, but the scene where Ciara gets the keys for her home was written on my phone on the night when I first got keys for a new place to rent. I tried to capture the emotion of that, the rawness of the relief. And I suppose that’s what I wanted to do in Nesting. To reclaim the housing crisis from sterile statistics and say; look, this is about people’s lives. It’s about security. It’s about freedom.
Reviews describe Nesting as both “urgent” and “psychologically nuanced.” How did you maintain this balance between intensity and sensitivity, especially given the sensitive themes of coercive control and trauma?
I wanted Nesting to feel authentic and validating, for it to shatter stereotypes about domestic abuse. The intensity comes from the situation; the very real danger Ciara is in. The sensitivity comes from staying true to the psychological reality of her experience, refusing to deviate from that. I have read novels where a character is fleeing an unsafe home and yet still manages to reminisce for pages about some childhood memory, or wax lyrical about the beauty of some landscape or other, and I just thought: No. That’s unrealistic. I did a huge amount of research and spoke to women who were survivors of coercive control. I knew from these conversations, the reality of Ciara’s situation is that she is locked in the present moment, unable to think further than the next meal, the next night of unstable accommodation. That's why I wrote Nesting in the present tense. I wanted to make sure that readers are with her every step of the way. You have to put ego aside for a project like this. My writerly whims were not important. It was all about Ciara.
Nesting has also been praised for its “page-turning emotional urgency.” How did you approach the pacing of the novel to keep readers engaged in Ciara’s story?
The pace really arose from the story itself. Ciara is under such pressure to provide a home for her children, and of course her pregnancy also raises the stakes and puts an added time-pressure on the narrative. Re-writing was important too. At the editorial stage, instead of just making minor adjustments on the page, I opened a completely new document and retyped the novel in chronological order, making changes as I went. This was a way to make sure that the emotional logic of the story rang true, and that readers feel invested in Ciara’s journey.
Nesting is your first novel after a celebrated career in short stories. How did your experience with short fiction influence your approach to writing this novel?
Writing short stories is great training for any novelist, because you learn to be economical with language, and to get to the heart of things straight away. I was used to writing in the short story form where every single word counts, and I am fairly ruthless when it comes to editing my own prose! At one stage, every time I sat down to work on Nesting, it would get shorter rather than longer! On the other hand, some short story techniques are a hindrance rather than a help. With short stories, I would often have the plot worked out before I even sat down to type, but I couldn’t do that with a novel. I had to embrace the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen next. I had to put myself completely in Ciara’s shoes and embrace the vulnerability of her situation.
In many ways, Nesting can be seen as a story of escape and reinvention. Did you explore any particular sources for inspiration on themes of female strength while developing Ciara’s journey?
I have always been drawn to stories of female strength. Some of the earliest books that made an impact on me were Beloved by Toni Morrison and Alice Walker's The Colour Purple. In these stories, women's struggles are real and authentic, but so is their gradual reclamation of power. Someone recently said that Nesting made them think of Jane Eyre. That made me laugh, because it seems like such an outlandish comparison, from the beauty of the windswept moors to the gritty reality of a Dublin hotel room. But of course, I grew up in South Yorkshire. A trip to Hawarth Hall was one of the most memorable primary school visits, and perhaps these early influences seep into our writing far more than we realise. Ultimately I think we write the type of books we enjoy reading. I'm not sure its possible to do otherwise.
With readers and reviewers calling Nesting “beautifully crafted” and “a triumph in empathy,” what do you hope readers take away from Ciara’s story?
It has been incredible to receive reader feedback like this. I have been blown away by the response to Nesting. I truly believe that the reader completes the picture. Even from early conversations with readers, they have helped me to see my novel from different angles. I think everyone will find something different in Nesting. As a writer, you are always reaching for the universal; the point at which readers can connect. While many readers will not have been in Ciara’s situation, I think so many of us can relate to having found ourselves adrift and dealing with seemingly unsurmountable challenges in our lives. I suppose if readers take away anything from Nesting, perhaps it’s that idea that change is possible. You are braver than you realise, stronger than you know. It is possible to find hope even in the most difficult circumstances, and to believe in your own story.
