CULTURE
NANNY DEAREST BY FLORA COLLINS
DECEMBER 1, 2021
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INTERVIEW
by TATIJANA SHOAN
PHOTOGRAPHY
COURTESY
of FLORA COLLINS
Move over mommy dearest, there's a new villain in town. Flora Collins, daughter of New York's famed fashionista Amy Fine Collins, has debuted her new book Nanny Dearest. The story draws from Flora's own personal history with her very toxic nanny, and thus, this thriller of a story was born. Flora proves herself to be a gifted writer as she shifts between the perspective of two different characters to create a compelling story. While she's in the early stages of her writing career, the potential for her to be a renowned novelist is there. AS IF Magazine spoke to the rising star novelist on her inspiration for the novel, her love for thrillers, and less than stellar adventures in being babysat.
AS IF: You have received praise for being a first-time novelist. Vogue called Nanny Dearest an accomplished thriller debut, and Publishers Weekly called you an “inventive suspense novelist." What I found particularly interesting is that you drew on your family history and experiences to get ideas for this psychological thriller! Does this novel take the demons out of your closet?
Flora Collins: I had a babysitter who was a pathological liar—she wasn't nearly as psychotic as the nanny in my book—but it's dark to have a nanny not be truthful. So, I wondered how I could expand on that idea to make it creepier and darker.
How did you come up with the overall concept for this novel?
I wanted to write a contained domestic suspense novel that was not about husbands and wives. I love the domestic suspense genre but wanted to change it up, and I wanted my book to be an unsettling slow burn. I started thinking about toxic and codependent relationships and brought my family's experience with my nanny into the picture. Also, there is so much material to pull from surrogate mother-daughter relationships.
You wrote this novel with alternating points of view—you switch between the nanny, Annalise, in the mid-90s, to Sue in the present day. Switching narration and time perspective is not an easy thing to craft.
I find it easier to write from different perspectives because I get bored writing from one character's point of view. When I started the project almost three years ago in April 2019, I didn’t plan on writing from two points of view. I originally just wrote it from Sue’s point of view and was getting bored and wanted to add another voice. Being stuck in one person's head felt confining, and I wanted to stretch my creative muscles.
