Welcome back to Chapter 25! In this special bonus episode, we are sitting down with the wonderful Grace Alexander to chat all about her incredible debut novel, The Low Job. Described as a prestige family drama unraveling in real time, the story dives deep into celebrity scandals, sisterhood, and the performance of modern womanhood. Grace shares her fascinating journey of writing this buzzy, high-energy book during her maternity leave, the reality TV and media trials that inspired the Low family, and why she embraces messy, unapologetically ambitious female characters.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Writing in the pockets of time: Grace wrote the entirety of her debut novel whilst on maternity leave from her job in finance, learning to become incredibly efficient by powering through writing sessions whenever her daughter went to sleep.
Reality TV and royal inspirations: The core inspiration for the novel came from Grace's fascination with the dislocation of fame on reality television, as well as observing the intense, binary media scrutiny faced by women in the spotlight like Meghan Markle.
The power of non-linear writing: As a proud "pantser" who does not plot her books, Grace describes her first drafts as a beautiful shit show where she writes herself into massive holes, letting the characters guide the story organically.
Unapologetic female complexity: It was deeply important to Grace that her characters, especially the protagonist Lily and matriarch Lydia, were allowed to be messy, impulsive, and ambitious without being softened or forced into traditional "likability" for the reader.
The bond of sisterhood: Drawing loosely from her own relationship with her two sisters, Grace wanted to show that while sisters can pull each other down to the absolute lowest lows, they are ultimately the safe space and stable unit you return to when everything else collapses.
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