Interview | Kit de Waal on playing within limitations in ‘The Best of Everything’
Author Kit de Waal discusses her novel 'The Best of Everything,' which follows a Caribbean auxiliary nurse in 1970s Birmingham navigating loss, motherhood, and social displacement. The interview explores her creative process, specifically how she crafted distinct character voices and examined themes of poverty, sisterhood, and the subjectivity of success.
Why it matters
The novel offers a nuanced look at the immigrant experience in 20th-century Britain, highlighting how literature can humanize the complexities of caregiving and social marginalization.
Last year, author Kit de Waal, 65, was the jury chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. This year, she was on the longlist of the same prize with her novel The Best of Everything (published by Tinder Press).
Beginning in 1972, The Best of Everything traces the life of Paulette, a 29-year-old Caribbean woman working as an auxiliary nurse in Birmingham. Deeply in love with a man named Denton, she begins to imagine a future with him—until his life is cut short in a tragic accident. In the aftermath of her loss, Paulette forms an unexpected bond with one of Denton’s friends. But just as she begins to rebuild her life, she comes face to face with the man responsible for Denton’s death. What might have unfolded as a story of revenge instead becomes a moving exploration of friendship, motherhood, forgiveness and kindness.
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