Madeleine Gray has followed her hit debut with a sharp take on complicated parenting. She discusses love, sex and famous fans
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adeleine Gray remembers the first time she had an inkling that her debut novel might become a big deal. When she received news of her advance from her agent, she was “expecting a pittance”; the number was in the six figures. “I thought: holy fuck, there’s been a mistake,” the 31-year-old author laughs. “By the time Green Dot was published last autumn, it had already been hailed as one of the most anticipated novels of the year, and was quickly beloved, drawing comparisons with Bridget Jones, Fleabag and Annie Ernaux. Nigella Lawson and Gillian Anderson posted praise for the book.
Were those celebrity endorsements exciting, I ask her. “I’m gay,” she replies, her enthusiasm leaping through the screen; “are you kidding?! I follow Gillian on Instagram, obviously.” When she saw Anderson post a selfie with the book, “the scream that came out of me was primal”.
Gray is speaking to me from her Sydney apartment; a late evening sun illuminates the colourful arrangement of vases and books stacked on adjoining shelves. She is chatty and relaxed, her conversation peppered with flashes of humour, which is unsurprising given the profusion of comedy in her novels. Green Dot’s 24-year-old protagonist, Hera, is funny, mean, yet vulnerable, teetering on the knife edge of gen Z nihilism while trying desperately to believe in something. In this case, that “something” is unfortunately a shy and elusive fortysomething married man with whom she has an affair. It’s a terrible idea, but as Hera, hopelessly self-aware to a fault, tells us: “What is lust, if not generosity persevering?”
