Between the Lines with Sophie Kinsella

At 35, author Sophie Kinsella is one of the reigning stars in chick-lit, the popular wish-fulfillment novels now being written and marketed for young women. Her witty new book, The Undomestic Goddess (Dial), is the story of Samantha Sweeting, a BlackBerry-toting workaholic London lawyer on the verge of making partner in her prestigious firm. Fate intervenes, and Samantha suddenly finds herself a housekeeper with not a lick of domestic talent, hurtling into a new romance. We spoke with the author by phone in London, just before a second set of bombings hit the city Thursday.

Galley Girl: At the beginning of your career, you were a financial journalist. Did you enjoy it?

Sophie Kinsella: Bits. I enjoyed writing, but I knew straight-off that finance wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the finance, and I didn’t enjoy having to pretend to be interested in it. I think that’s what I found the hardest. Always lots of nodding, and “um, yes.” I was bluffing the whole way through.

GG: Do you call your own books chick-lit?

SK: I would if I needed a quick shorthand and I didn’t have time to explain the nuances. Personally, I would describe what I do as romantic comedies and light comic contemporary fiction.

GG: Did you ever practice law? The book is so authentic.

SK: No. I researched all of the law scenes. I got the idea because one of my sisters is a lawyer in the city, and also a very close friend of ours is big-shot partner at one of the London law firms. I got inklings of their lives just from knowing them through all these years. It seemed like the perfect job [for Samantha]. When I first heard about time sheets from this friend and my sister, I was just so gobsmacked. I thought, you have to do what!?! I thought they were joking. They have to write down everything they’re doing in six-minute segments. Basically, their time is not their own. They have to account for it all. I found that such a freaky idea.

GG: Do you experience the work vs. personal life tug that Samantha does in the book?

SK: I do. Not to the extent that she does. I’m very lucky that most of my time is absolutely my own. The great thing about being a novelist is that you organize your own day. You can drift around and go and work at a coffee shop if you like. But occasionally, things get very hectic when I’m having to do promotions and do interviews and go traveling and that kind of thing. And I have two children, and another on the way. All boys.

GG: Are you an undomestic goddess yourself?

SK: The worst! I am the worst. That is truly all autobiographical. I can’t cook. I don’t have the right brain for it, somehow. I can’t walk into a room and tidy it up. I get distracted. I pick up one thing and I start looking at it. And my cooking is truly heinous.

GG: Did writing this book make you more or less domestic?

SK: I actually went to learn to bake bread for the book. I was that devoted. I went to a friend who is truly a domestic goddess, and bakes her own bread every day, and practically has chickens running around the yard. She taught me from scratch. I have to say, it was very enjoyable. We had this lovely day, and we baked all of this bread. We made four loaves. But what really hit me was that then we sat down for tea, and we ate one of the loaves between us. It dawned on me—you make it, and then it’s gone. And then you have to make it again! For the author’s website, go to readsophiekinsella.com