Feeling Blue: How Coco Mellors crafts flawed but human characters

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

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 pop-culture bullseye — a cameo in And Just Like That.

Coco Mellors is the author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein (2022) and Blue Sisters (2024).

The book deals with complex relationships, addiction, and dysfunctional family dynamics.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is about a doomed marriage on the verge of decay.

Mellors loves Sally Rooney, but dislikes being pitted against her.