LUCY BLOOM

PREPARE FOR AN ACTION PACKED AND ENTERTAINING RIDE

African-born, mum-of-three Lucy Bloom tells WHO that she has “never been happier” at this point in her life as a conference speaker and now rst-time novelist. “I had a ball writing this book,” she shares. “Fiction is so much easier than writing my memoir was!” Bloom’s debut novel follows character Edith Scott, an author who decides to write a story about men in her past who have treated her badly. Killing them o within her literature, little does she know that in a parallel reality they are being dealt with – and viciously. The Manuscript explores many themes, including the contemporary nature of today’s relationships, online dating and divorce. “Edith bursts forth from her marriage and kicks her heels up,” explains Bloom. “Edith is only vicious in the books she writes. Her vengefulness is played out as fantasy in a story of her own making.” The author also dives into the idea of karma and how precarious relationships can be. Bloom says she is a fan of the idea of karma and that it can be used as a “handy human tool, which prevents people taking matters into their own hands”. She muses, “Humans love a bit of revenge or justice, but if the universe can handle it, there would be less people in prison. I would much rather walk away from a douche bag than punch him in the face.”

Has she drawn on personal experience to create this story, we wonder? Bloom shares that there are “more moments in this book that happened to me than I would like to admit”. Bloom continues,

“The fun part is the reader can try to gure out which elements are truth and which are ctional. As I always say,

I can’t make up the crazy stu that happens to me.” (Out now)

When Bloom isn’t writing, she says her favourite topics as a speaker are, “Courage, kindness, failure and fun.”