Hi, Sophie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I grew up in Adelaide, but I’ve lived most of my adult life in Melbourne.

I’ve pretty much always worked as a writer and editor – and I’ve done heaps of different kinds of writing: copywriting for brands,  arts and travel journalism, comms jobs. The Confidence Woman is my first novel. It’s about an internet scammer, who is saving up for a home deposit.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

A friend of my mum’s  gave me a book for my fourth birthday called Mole’s Cousin. It was the book version of an episode in the BBC’s Wind in the Willows spin-off TV series. I was obsessed.

Mole’s Cousin is an amazing story – especially if you’re already familiar with the Wind in the Willows characters. Mole receives news that his cousin – the distinguished poet and ‘famous literary figure’, Auberon Mole – is coming to visit him. Mole’s friends force him to redecorate his house to prepare for the grand visit. Mole has a nervous breakdown.

You can watch the episode on YouTube. It is such a rich text. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pncgys3KY2E

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• The one that made you want to become an author: Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry. Anastasia was such a neurotic little weirdo. I loved all the books in that series.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Mole’s Cousin. Also, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. So many books are about characters struggling against their dark or low impulses. But The House of Mirth is (at least, on one level) about a woman trying to stay true to her materialistic upbringing and resist noble impulses and influences. I love that.

Your debut novel, The Confidence Woman, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Scammy, satirical and morally ambiguous.

What can readers expect?

I hope readers will find The Confidence Woman engrossing, funny and thought-provoking.

It’s about a single mother/internet fraudster and her efforts to gain a foothold in Melbourne’s prohibitive property market. The protagonist, Christina Swales, is posing online as executive coach Dr Ruth Carlisle. She’s scamming her clients. It’s about blurred online identities and striving for success (or just security) in a rigged system.

Where did the inspiration for The Confidence Woman come from?

The housing crisis is the background of The Confidence Woman. I feel strongly about this issue, as a lot of people do.

Should people locked out of housing security be expected to behave themselves? In The Confidence Woman, the protagonist has resorted to some very dubious activity to get her own home. And I hope that the reader might have some sympathy for her – maybe even cheer her on.

This is perhaps an unusual backdrop for a book that’s supposed to be funny. The housing crisis isn’t funny, but scams are, and it’s always fun to find yourself on the side of the scammer.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

There’s a chapter that’s set in a shitty Italian restaurant. It was fun to draw on my own experiences working in restaurants to write that part.

I wasn’t a good waitress, but Christina (the character) is competent and efficient. For some reason, I really enjoyed writing from the perspective of a competent waitress.

Was writing this chapter some sort of wish fulfilment? My way of trying to process regrets from my hospitality years? I don’t know. I’m sincerely sorry to anyone who never got a drink they ordered from me, except for that lady from Perth who yelled at me on the eve of the 2008 AFL Grand Final.

Lady, I don’t care that I forgot your drink and I hope you are still thirsty.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?

Right now, I’m reading Orpheus Nine by Chris Flynn. It’s very eerie and gripping.

Next up: We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown, I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena, Peripathetic by Cher Tan and Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian.

Will you be picking up The Confidence Woman? Tell us in the comments below!

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