Will Rycroft

Andrew, welcome to Waterstones.

Thank you.

I don't often do this at interviews, but I am going to start by thanking you because, as I sort of mentioned on our way up here, your novel Less came at exactly the right time in my life when I needed a book to kind of kickstart my reading passion again because I'd got a little bit stuck in the weeds.

And there was something about the, it felt to me, effortless comedy of that book that I found so, so charming.

But I know that it's not effortless.

I'm sure you put a lot of work into it, and we will find out with your new book, Villa Coco, just exactly how that works.

Before we get into that, I have to say I was intrigued by the little letter that was at the front of my proof, where you mentioned that this novel had its basis in real life.

There was a real Baronessa, and I therefore, of course, was like, I need to know more.

I'm not expecting you to tell me all the details of her life, because as you say, this is a fictionalized version of things.

But what was it about that experience that made you think, ah, there's a novel here?

Seeing as you've mentioned about the charm novel, why don't you sort of explain a little bit what you mean by that?

And maybe some, I suppose, some other examples of sort of authors who've written charm novels.

Well, I think it's actually a very British thing.

Yeah, okay, that makes perfect sense.

You've done that thing again, which I think is such a brilliant narrative trick, which is that the...

the protagonist through which we see this story is always just slightly behind, I suppose, what's going on around him.

And that's what makes him so endearing because he's sort of permanently catching up.

Is that something you're very conscious of as a useful dramatic device?

Because it's worked so well with both Les novels, I thought, as well.

You all look back one day and go... Good attitude, yeah.