Roisín O’Donnell talks to Cristina Rivera Garza

Irish author Roisín O’Donnell was an Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2025. She speaks to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mexican author of Liliana’s Invincible Summer, Cristina Rivera Garza, about her urgent first novel Nesting.

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, she straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home, with her husband Ryan, is no longer safe. What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life?