Sam Brigger

So I'm clearly not British, but I understand to some degree the foundational importance of the Blitz on modern British identity.

But can you illuminate just how important that history is, especially for Londoners?

You've professed your love for the C.S.

Lewis Narnia books.

And in those books, the children discover the land of Narnia because they're sent out of London in the country for safety during the war.

Iris, your hero, will discover Nonsuch, this fantasy land, because of the war too.

Did you think of your book Nonsuch as in conversation with the Narnia books?

In your book, and this is your phrase, magical time-traveling fascists want to go back in time and murder Winston Churchill before he shores up Britain's will to fight the Nazis.

Iris even walks by this house in Chelsea where she lives.

It's the headquarters of the British fascists, which was actually a place.

Can you talk a bit about the sympathies that the upper class of Britain had for the Nazis during that time?

You know, this is a time of rising authoritarianism in many countries.

Was that on your mind when you were writing Nonesuch?

Let's talk about your hero, Iris Hawkins.

Like other female characters in your books, Iris is coming up against

the social constraints for the women of her time.

And at this period, working women like her are relegated to the secretarial pools of London brokerages, even though she wants to be like a player in the world of finance.

She also enjoys casual sex, but has to be careful not to have that tarnish her reputation.

There's an obvious double standard there.

In order to rent an apartment, she has to pretend to be married to a soldier serving abroad because no one will rent to a, quote, tart.