Nicole Bokat
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
Author of The Happiness Thief and Will End in Fire
About Will End in Fire:
Ellie Stone, a journalist focusing on climate science, is staying with her 24-year-old brother, Josh, so their parents can have an anniversary getaway. Josh is an addict, a former D1 soccer star whose post-college life has unraveled, but he’s also still, somehow, the golden boy. Ellie’s resentment at being overlooked by her parents took root in childhood, so when she and Josh argue during her visit, she decides that she’s finally had enough. In her hurry to get back to Brooklyn from New Jersey, Ellie realizes she forgot her laptop and turns around, arriving back to discover the home ablaze.
Though alive when rescued by firefighters, Josh is severely burned and fragile. Ellie is heartsick. But then she also begins to fret: is it her fault? Did she snuff out her cigarette? It’s the second time she’s been involved in a devastating fire—another holdover from childhood—and she feels guilt-ridden and overwhelmed. Plus, social media turns ugly, reacting as fast as the flames that devoured her family home.
In the aftermath, Ellie leans on Josh’s best friend, Drew, and Josh’s girlfriend, Audrey, but as time goes on, she realizes Audrey and Josh didn’t have the rosy relationship she thought they did. The police are asking questions. Suddenly, Ellie is, too.
In this page-turning story of disloyalty, sibling rivalry, and love gone wrong, suspicions abound and the tension ratchets up, right until the chilling conclusion.
About The Happiness Thief:
Forty-one-year-old Natalie Greene still believes she might have caused the car crash that killed her mother decades ago. But did she? Her memories are buried beneath a deep trauma, which still ripples through her life and recently ruined her marriage. While accompanying her famous stepsister, Isabel Walker (aka “The Happiness Guru”) to an annual wellness retreat in the Cayman Islands, a late-night collision triggers Natalie's PTSD. When she later receives an anonymous email hinting at foul play, Natalie decides to investigate. Looking into the island accident sparks a trip down a foggy, frightening memory lane—exposing dark secrets and chilling revelations.
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
Author I draw inspiration from:
2024: Jane Austen, Flynn Berry and Maggie O'Farrell. I adored Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. I also loved her memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am. But, in terms of understanding human nature, Jane Austen gets top honors. One of my favorite lines of hers is: "Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure." Timeless.
2021: Jane Austen, Edna O'Brien, Maggie O'Farrell.
(HBL Note: You might also be interested in this post on Jane Austen Novels in Order)
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
Favorite place to read a book:
2024: In bed or overlooking the ocean.
2021: Overlooking the ocean
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2024: Rachel Katzman from The Jane Austen Project. I'd ask her what it was like to travel from the future to the early eighteenth century in order to save Jane Austen's life.
2021: Charles Wallace (A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle)
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2024: At ten years old, writing my first novel.
2021: At ten years old, writing my 4rst novel at summer camp.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2024: Paperback or hardback are best. I dog ear pages to mark sentences or phrases that I love.
The last book I read:
2024: How to Love your Daughter by Hila Blum. It was gorgeous, masterful.
2021: The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
Pen & paper or computer:
2024: I write on the computer but I print out to edit, using a pen or pencil, after finishing my work for the day.
2021: Computer
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2024: Mrs. Hill from Pride and Prejudice (the Bennet's housekeeper). She'd know so many secrets about Longbourn.
2021: Anne Eliot, Persuasion by Jane Austen.
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Literature Professor.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
1940s
Place I’d most like to travel:
2024: Japan. My younger son has been there twice and loves it.
2021: The Amali Coast
My signature drink:
Cappuccino
Favorite artist:
Vermeer
Number one on my bucket list:
2024: Relaxing. Travel when possible!
2021: Travel
Anything else you'd like to add:
I am glad to meet online with book clubs. My website is nicolebokat.com.
Thank you for featuring my book!
Find more from the author:
http://facebook.com/NicoleBokatAuthor
http://instagram.com/nicolebokat
My website: http://nicolebokat.com
About Nicole Bokat:
Author Interview - Nicole Bokat
NICOLE BOKAT has published three novels: Redeeming Eve (2000), What Matters Most (2006), and The Happiness Thief (2021). Redeeming Eve was nominated for both the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction. Bokat is also the author of a book on novelist Margaret Drabble and has written essays for several publications, including The New York Times, Parents, and The Forward. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and dog, Ruby, and has two sons.
