Nicola Kraus
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus
Author of The Best We Could Hope For
When Bunny Linden abandons her three children with her older sister, Jayne, in 1972, she knows Jayne will be the perfect mother. The mother Bunny, a teen runaway, could never be.
As months turn into years without word, Jayne and her husband, Rodger, a rising journalism star, strive to give the children the opportunity to flourish. And when Jayne and Rodger finally have a child of their own, a seemingly stable home is built.
But then, after nearly a decade, Bunny resurfaces and sets a chain of events in motion that
detonates all their lives.
As adults, their children try to reassemble the pieces and solve the mystery that has always
haunted them. Who were their parents? What really happened between them? And who is ultimately to blame for the destruction? But will the answers they seek set them free—or lead to something far more damaging than anyone imagined?
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus
Author I draw inspiration from:
The authors I go back to again and again are the ones who not only dazzle with their prose but who build a world I want to curl up in. Ann Patchett and Elizabeth Strout might seem like opposites in some ways, Patchett with her far-flung adventures and Strout wth her returning characters and confined locales but inside their novels is the whole breadth of the human experience, told with compassion and curiosity. I feel on every page how much they love us humans, even with all our flaws.
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
The beach. But in a pinch any chair will do. My least favorite is the subway because I am apt to miss my stop.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield because he wouldn't panic. He'd take the whole thing in stride, and might even be amused by our predicament. If I could get him talking, and he decided I wasn't a phony, I know he could entertain me for hours.
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I might have always wanted to be an author but I didn't think I could be an author. You see, my father is a bookseller. My mother was a research librarian. The only religion in my household was books. Big, complicated, intimidating books. So it didn't occur to me that I could ever make a living writing. Funnily I did think that acting was a realistic choice and that's what I did after college while publishing a few short pieces on the side just for fun. Every time I started sobbing about how awful acting was my parents suggested I should be a writer to which I screamed, "That's not helpful! You're supposed to suggest something realistic like med school!" When my friend, Emma, suggested we write a novel based on our experiences as Park Avenue nannies I readily accepted. When we sold that novel and I suddenly had an agent and an assignment I thanked the universe for what seemed like an impossible gift, set my headshots on fire, then sat down at my desk and never looked back.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I love hardbacks but they are heavy to carry around NYC and I always have a book on me. Paperbacks were my go-to but I am old! Even with my strongest glasses and the brightest lamp I now have trouble reading paperbacks at night when my eyes are tired. Maybe an e-reader would solve this but I don't own one. I am, however, an OBSESSIVE audiobook listener. I have a dog who loves long walks and I always have a book in my ear.
The last book I read:
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I am obsessed with this story. It is so beautifully rendered, and suspenseful. Moore is so good at capturing the psychological and socio economic factors at play. I could have read three hundred more pages.
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
While my desk is piled with notepads to keep track of various deadlines, and I still use a paper calendar to keep track of my appointments, I am a computer girl. And it's a giant desktop, not a cute little laptop. I always say, "I need to see it big!" I do not work in cafés where I'm not in control of the noise level. I do not write on vacation. I have my breakfast and I start my day doing what I call admin, replying to emails and doing whatever needs to get done. Then by about 9 o'clock, I can dive into my story. When I am writing a first draft, I assign myself the task of writing 500 words a day, which gets me a first draft in about seven months. Assuming it goes smoothly, which it never does. The rest of my day is devoted to working with my editing clients. It's a good balance that keeps me grounded.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Ashley in We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman. And that might make me an asshole because the whole point of that novel is that she is losing her best friend so who am I to say I could just jump right in there? So maybe a better way to put it is I was totally in love with that character's voice, her humor in the face of grief, her ability to be so in love with life while staring down its end.
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Dog groomer. It's my secret superpower.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
The 1950s! Give me a tiny waist and a full skirt every day--and covered buttons! My mother worked gift wrap at a department store in Buffalo, New York in the 1950s. With her employee discount, in college, she never wore the same dress twice. I wore all of those gorgeous dresses when I was in high school in the late 80s early 90s. Eventually, my frame was too big to fit into those tiny clothes and I donated the bulk of them to Julliard's costume department.
Place I’d most like to travel:
I have a very close friend, Vickie, who lives in Melbourne, Australia and I am dying to visit her. For years I have been trying to figure out the window to get there and see the whole country properly. Some day!
My signature drink:
I am partial to a Paloma. But truly anything with tequila is my friend.
Favorite artist:
There is a painting called An Angel at My Table that was a big inspiration as I was working on this novel. It won the BP Portrait of the Year Competition in 2018. It depicts the artists's mother sitting at her breakfast table and some of the dishes are severed as though a spirit is blowing past. I am a great believer in a force greater than ourselves and death as a transition, not an ending. This beautiful painting captures all of that.
Number one on my bucket list:
My Bat Mitzvah is on June 1st so that is probably a pretty big one. I was raised Episcopalian but 3 of my grandparents were Jewish so I'm taking on filling in the gaps in my education. It is enormously gratifying but also a rolling migraine. If you're thinking about learning to read a new alphabet in perimenopause I give it one star--do not recommend.
Find more from the author:
https://www.instagram.com/nicolakrausauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/nicola.kraus.nannydiaries
About Nicola Kraus:
Author Interview - Nicola Kraus
Nicola Kraus co-authored The Nanny Diaries, an international #1 best-seller and 2007 movie starring Scarlett Johansson & Alicia Keys. Nicola has contributed to The London Times, The New York Times, Redbook, Glamour, and Town & Country. In 2015 she co-founded the creative consulting firm The Finished Thought, which helps the next generation of aspiring authors find their voice and audience.
