Q&A with Brionni Nwosu

 

 

 

Brionni Nwosu is the author of the new novel The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter. Also an educator, she lives in Nashville. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter, and how did you create your character Nella?

 

A: I was excited by the overall premise. I had just finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, a beloved fictional historical narrative with a character navigating love and a career.

 

Nella was an opportunity to see history from a Black woman’s perspective and answer the question of what it would be like for a Black woman to live through that much history.

 

It was also created as an opportunity to expand on the book club/sweeping historical/immortal narratives that were seen in stories like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It was a joy to write the novel and to attempt to bring my perspective to bear on the question.

 

Nella was such a strong character from the very beginning, with her love of writing and consistent belief in the human spirit, that I was excited to dive into the research across the time periods and figure out what she would have seen and experienced in each timeline.  

 

Q: Did you need to do any research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: So much research! Her life spans 300 years of history, from colonial America, to meeting her just after the American Revolution in 1784, through Industrialization, the Harlem Renaissance, the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, into the modern era.

 

For each time period, I used primary documents, maps, journals, and academic articles to understand the logistics of the time. I’ll forever be grateful to the wonderful EPE team and editors for helping catch errors in time and logistics.

 

In terms of surprises, I loved reading period newspapers to get the best sense of the zeitgeist of the time–what was happening politically, what products were they buying, what was the gossip of the day–all came out in the daily papers. Papers like The Washington Afro-American gave insight into life and events of the time, such as the attempted assassination of Martin Luther King in 1958.

 

I also tried to add real people to the novel, like Eulalie McCarty, Ollie Stewart, and Jo Ann Robinson, for their impact on history. With Jo Ann Robinson, I didn’t know how critical women were to the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which helped bring MLK to prominence. I read her memoir and watched several documentaries of the movement to try to get the tone and events right. 

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: Yep! I loved knowing the bookends of the book and knowing the beginning in the end. I’m a plotter, so knowing where I’m going is critical to the story. I also love books with call backs, so if you read the book, you’ll see the connection from the prologue to the last chapter (no spoilers!)

 

As for changes, they mainly related to the novel's timeline and scope. 300 years is a lot of history to cover, and there were additional loves that didn’t make the final cut, due to space and impact on the story. This allowed more time to be spent seeing her relationships with key loves and showing the passage of time more effectively. Otherwise, the book could have easily been 600 pages lol. 

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I hope they see and know that beauty exists, even in tumultuous times. In my research, there were NEVER any untumultuous ones. I hope they see that even now, when the world can feel like it’s on fire, there are still people doing good and helping others in their time of need. The more TikTok I watch, the more I see people awakening to this need.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Several projects—one centered on the question of fate, one on the impact of social media, and a fun, crafty cozy mystery. My goal for 2026 is to finish several of the projects I’ve started over the years and build my body of work and career as an author.

 

If that’s not enough, I’d like to continue building and being in community with others, centered on accountability and writing skill development. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Just how excited I am for Nella to be out in the world. The entire process was three years and was such an instruction in the writing and publishing industry. The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter comes out December 1 from Lake Union Publishing and was selected as an Amazon First Reads Selection and comes out in the UK on December 4 from Hodderscape.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb