Book Title: NICE WORK, NORA NOVEMBER
Character Name: Nora November
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
My sister and I never lacked for anything but affection. My parents were hard on me. I always thought it was because I was a twin who survived. My twin brother died of SIDS when we were 9 months old, and I have long had the impression they resented me in some way for surviving. I was close to my sister Lacey and my grandparents, but home life was strict and full of impossible expectations we were expected to live up to.
What was your greatest talent?
I always thought it was basketball until I picked up a ball as an adult and discovered I’m not the legend that lives in my mind. I think now my greatest talent is baking.
Significant other?
Unfortunately, no. I’m kind of stuck on a guy I met during a botched robbery. We were held hostage in a utility closet and as strange as it sounds, we hit it off. We exchanged numbers at the end of the night, but neither of us ever called. I consider him to be the one who got away. I’m looking for him now, but he’s hard to find.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Lack of confidence! I’d say my lack of confidence affects my love life, work life, and home life. Ugh. I hate to admit it, but I know it is true.
Where do you live?
Austin, Texas
Do you have any enemies?
Besides my dad? Kidding-not-kidding. Really, I don’t have any enemies except myself. I’m the worst.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I like where I live now. It’s a small apartment across town from my parents, on what used to be the wrong side of town (and still is to them). It means they don’t drop by so much, which is a good for me.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
I had a dog as a kid, Roxie. I would really like to have a dog now. But apartment living and long work hours make that not a great idea.
What do you do for a living?
I’m a personal injury attorney. You know, the kind that shouts from your TV that if you get hit by an 18-wheeler you should call us.
Greatest disappointment?
That I didn’t go visit my grandpa when I said I would. He died shortly after that.
Greatest source of joy?
My grandpa’s garden. I’m the gardener now. It’s amazing to watch something come to life.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
I’m taking a cooking class! I’m not very good at it, so those visions I had of being a chef are probably not going to work out. But I have learned that I’m pretty good at baking.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Not having courage when I’ve needed it most. My sister Lacey makes it look so easy. But it never has been for me. I am working on it, though.
What keeps you awake at night?
The age-old question of what am I going to do with my life? I really hate my job and I don’t know how to get out of it. I’ve suffered from depression and sometimes, it makes looking forward as hard as lifting a mountain.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
After a near-death experience and missing work, how to pay my bills has become the most pressing problem It’s really hard to make changes—like finding a new job—when you keep getting medical bills in the mail.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
More moments of joy on a daily basis. My grandpa used to say it’s the small things, but I didn’t really believe that until recently. The trick is to recognize those moments for what they are and soak up all the joy to sustain you. It’s harder than it looks.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
I think bouts of depression in the past have robbed me of the ability to easily feel joy, although I’m getting that back. And if you don’t feel it, you sort of forget what it looks like. But I am a work in progress, and I am making strides all the time. I think. I hope.
Now that Nora is not dead, only one question remains: What does she want to do with her life?
Nora November is alive—but she wasn’t always. She was once clinically dead, having spent several minutes under water after a terrible surfing accident she doesn’t remember. What she does remember from her time in a coma is her grandfather, who passed away over a year ago. And a beautiful garden. And the most delicious tomato she ever tasted.
Now that she’s awake again her life has been cleaved in two. In the Before, Nora lived like a ghost, drowning under the weight of her parents’ expectations. In the After, she’s determined to accomplish the things she left undone before she died. Her reverse bucket list is simple: She wants to learn to cook and to be a better older sister to Lacey. She wants to quit her terrible job as a personal injury lawyer at her dad’s firm. She wants to bring Grandpa’s now-neglected garden back to life. And she wants to find the guy she met in a corner store months ago—the one she never called but never stopped thinking about.
As Nora’s attempts at a new life prove disastrous at best, her mission to fulfill her reverse bucket list leads her to a reckoning with the truth she almost hid from herself.
Women's Fiction [Harper Muse, On Sale: June 4, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781400245734 / eISBN: 9781400245741]
Fiction for all women and a few good men
Julia London is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty novels. She writes historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction, including the popular Highland Groom historical series, and the acclaimed The Princes of Texas contemporary series. She is a recipient of the RT Book Reviews Best Regency Historical Romance award for THE DANGEROUS GENTLEMAN, and a six-time finalist for the renowned RITA Award for excellence in romantic fiction. She resides in Austin, Texas.
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