READERS GUIDE

In Conversation with Emily Everett
 
1.        What inspired you to write All That Life Can Afford?
This book was inspired by my own experiences living in London in my early twenties, teaching SAT prep in fancy boarding schools and tutoring for wealthy families. At first I just wanted to write about London as a way to get back to that time: I loved my years there, that exciting, exploratory time when you’re figuring out the world and where you belong in it, and how you’re going to make a life. But I knew it would also be a great way to examine class and wealth and privilege, since class is so much more defined in Britain compared to the US. And, of course, it was 2021 when I first thought of the book, and travel hadn’t really opened up yet—so this was the closest I could get to seeing Europe!
2.        Did you have a favorite character to write? If so, who were they, and why were they your favorite?
I really loved writing Faye, honestly. Even though she’s a bit of a villain, she starts out as a classic frenemy, and that is such a fun thing to write! It was tricky to get her character correct, and we tweaked her a lot in editing, but I wanted to keep her complex and conflicted: I think she really does like Anna, but also maybe envies her a little, or wants credit for Anna’s success. Writing Faye’s backhanded compliments and snide remarks was a really delightful challenge for me. Most of all, I loved writing how she moved through the world—like she’s untouchable, like the world will just mold itself to her whims. That kind of supreme confidence is so fun to inhabit.
3.        Once Anna starts working for the Wilders, she meets a wide array of people who come from wealth and privilege. Was any of this world inspired by your own experiences in London?
When I was SAT tutoring in London, I was constantly surprised by the wealth I encountered. I’ll never forget when one of my students took out an iPad to use as a calculator in a math lesson. iPads were brand new back then and cost about as much as my rent for a month. A funny thing about tutoring is that you’re really inside the family unit; you’re in their house, you hear arguments, you see what’s for dinner. I felt like I could write those kinds of families, show that they have real lives and real feelings, even if they do live well. It would be so uninteresting if the Wilders were just a caricature of a rich family. I also didn’t want to caricature the new friends that Anna makes through the Wilders. I had friends in London who came from wealthier families, and our days weren’t so different—we all went for drinks at the pub, spent sunny days in the park, went to the movies. I always felt that the main difference between us wasn’t how we lived but what we worried about. Which is to say that I assumed they had less to worry about. They could more easily pay their bills, weather periods of underemployment, pay for emergency expenses or a flight home. I felt they had a freedom I didn’t, and it was mostly a freedom from worry.
4.        What was your favorite scene to write, and why?
I have a lot of favorites, but I really love the scene when Anna gets lost in Lisbon, and then found. She’s so tough throughout the story, really putting on a brave face and pushing through, never wanting anyone to see her struggling. When she’s lost, her defenses drop, and we see how vulnerable she really is—and it leads her to have an intimate conversation that might not have happened otherwise. Writing that scene, when her guard is down, was really liberating. And romantic!
5.        What type of research did you do to write All That Life Can Afford?
I mostly had to dig through my memories of life in London! I also talked with my friends who were tutors and teachers like me at that time, and we swapped stories of the wild experiences we’d had in fancy homes, hotels, and schools. I used Google Maps to make sure I got Highgate geography right, since that was a London neighborhood I’d visited but not lived in. One of the trickier things to research was technology; I wanted to make sure I was accurately reflecting what we could do on our phones back then, in 2009 or 2010. For example, you could probably pull up a map on your iPhone, but it would take forever, and it wasn’t in an app, it was just in your browser. And you certainly couldn’t do that while visiting a foreign country, unless you got a new phone or SIM card there. It was so much easier to get lost back then!
6.        What inspired you to set part of the story in Saint-Tropez? Have you ever visited?
I’ve been to Saint-Tropez twice, and it really is unforgettable! One of my flatmates in London had a family home there, high on top of a hill over the bay, and the Wilders’ villa is based on that home. It was the dreamiest place I’ve ever been—not because it was glamorous or over the top, but because it was very laidback there, everyone drinking pale rosé and relaxing by the pool, maybe driving out to a vineyard or down to get dinner at the port. We watched fireworks over the bay on Bastille Day, so it was easy for me to imagine Anna watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks!
7.        Having lost her mother at a young age, Anna is very much dealing with her grief throughout this novel. What inspired you to write her this way?
When my mother died, I was 31. I had a whole life and a job and a set of responsibilities. I didn’t feel like I could stop everything and process my grief, because it would destabilize me too much—emotionally but also logistically, too. I wanted Anna to be young enough to admit to herself what a huge loss her mother’s death is, young enough that her life would be split in two, before and after. I let her make space for her grief as an everyday part of herself, even if she does choose to keep it a secret for the most part. I knew she would be trying to heal that hurt with anything that felt good, even if it meant making some questionable decisions. 
8.        What is your favorite location that Anna visits?
This is so hard to choose—almost everywhere she visits in London is a favorite place of mine, from the ICCO pizza place to the British Library Reading Rooms where I wrote my own dissertation! I think I had the most fun writing her time in Lisbon, because that’s a city I fell in love with more recently, and I wrote a few chapters of the book while I was there. The Michelin-starred restaurant she goes to for her birthday is a real restaurant I went to with a friend. As soon as I got home I wrote down every dish and detail, because I knew it would be perfect in the book.
9.        Without giving anything away, did you always know how the story would end?
Definitely not! This story actually had a few different endings in early drafts. The shape of the novel changed a lot, and that’s really what dictates the ending you need to feel satisfied. As it became clear that it was more a coming-of-age story than anything else, that clarified the right ending, and from then on it didn’t change at all. I also always knew who she would end up with, and where!
10.   What’s next for you?
I’m working on another novel, but this one is a crime novel, and I’m not writing it alone! My twin sister is a writer too—a crime journalist—and I’ve always been fascinated by her job, which is a million times harder than writing novels. She’s covered a lot of grisly stories and extreme cases over the years, and done really intensive investigative work to tell the whole story. The main character in the novel is a journalist covering a recent murder that’s linked to the death of a child two decades earlier. It’s been so fun working on this new book with my sister, bouncing ideas back and forth, shaping it together. Writing can be so lonely. And since we’re twins, we work well together!
 
 
 
Discussion Questions
 
1.        Have you ever dreamed of living somewhere else, as Anna dreamed of London? If so, where do you see yourself?
2.        What was your favorite scene, and why?
3.        Once Anna arrives in Saint-Tropez, she feels pressure to leave her past behind to fit in with her new surroundings. Have you ever tried to rewrite your past in this way? How did it make you feel?
4.        Who was your favorite character, and why?
5.        If you were in Anna’s shoes, would you have been more drawn to Callum or Theo? Why do you think that is?
6.        Have you ever been caught in a lie? How did you respond?
7.        As Anna gets to know the Wilders, Faye is quick to bond with her. How did you feel about their relationship?
8.        Have you experienced loss, as Anna has? If so, how do you think it affected your life choices in the aftermath?
9.        Throughout the novel, we see Anna embark on a journey of self-discovery. What is the most important lesson she learns along the way, in your opinion?
10.   What did you think of the ending?