Why we're all feeling Blue

Coco Mellors's new novel is about grief, sisterhood, and of course, addiction and unlikeable women. How does she make it work?

- Sonali Kokra

At 35, Coco Mellors is living the dream. Her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, came out in 2022, and was the kind of runaway hit that even established authors silently pray for. It was on the Times and the Sunday Times bestsellers' lists. It's been translated into 20 languages, including Czech, Slovak, and Romanian. It's landed her an adaptation deal with Warner Bros TV. Last year, it hit the popculture bullseye - a cameo in And Just Like That.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein chronicled the heartbreaking decay of 24-year-old Cleo's harebrained marriage to Frank, a 40-something high-functioning alcoholic. A hotly debated plot point among the book's fans and critics involves Frank buying Cleo a sugar glider (a kind of possum) in an act of desperation to somehow lift her spirits.

MELLORS'S CHARACTERS ARE OFTEN IRRITATING AND UNLIKEABLE, AND YET THEY'RE CAPTIVATING, AND A HIT AMONG YOUNGER FANS

The book deals with complex relationships, addiction, dysfunctional family dynamics, and grief from the perspective of the four Blue sisters.

It works. She's thrilled. They name it Jesus. Then, Frank, in a drunken stupor, accidentally drowns Jesus in a toilet bowl. The pet, the fleeting distraction it provides, and its sudden, clumsy death is possibly the best metaphor for Cleo and Frank's blundering togetherness.