About Nicky...
“Nicky Bond was born in Liverpool UK, in 1978. The eldest of seven children, she found books were a perfect way to drown out the lively household around her, and meant her hands were never free to change a nappy. She studied Psychology and English Literature at University College Northampton before embarking upon a career in Education. Twelve years later, she stopped procrastinating and got writing. Nicky is a regular supporter of Liverpool Women Football Club, relaxes by cooking, and spends a lot of time drinking tea.”
That’s the official bio but let’s dig deeper. First of all, Nicky loved working with children back in her teaching and Learning Mentor days. They were fab and she often thinks back to them with fondness. She was less keen, however, on admin and being told what to do. Personality traits that continue to this day. (Oh, the nightmares about planning files and OFSTED! When will they stop?) She mapped out her first book during her final school year, left her job, and then wrote it.
The bad news? It was terrible. The good news? She kept going. Her next novel, Carry the Beautiful, was published in 2017. The story of Tilda Rudd hitting forty and wondering why her life hadn’t worked out the way she’d planned, was in no way autobiographical despite that being the first question everyone asked. It was, instead, a result of Nicky’s favourite films merging together. The connection of strangers in Before Sunrise, the humour and wit of When Harry Met Sally, and the rediscovery of self in Shirley Valentine.
Her second book took a different path. Leeza McAuliffe Has Something To Say was conceived as an homage to her own upbringing. A lively, chaotic home life, a plethora of younger siblings, and a frustrating lack of privacy in a household bursting at the seams. She channelled it into the diary of Leeza, a sassy ten year old from Manchester. Originally conceived for adults, she made the decision to classify it as a pre-teen novel during the first draft. Apart from removing the swear words, the intended adult version remained the same.
Her third novel was the natural progression from Carry the Beautiful. She had toyed with the idea of writing a Tales of the City style serial, à la her writing hero, Armistead Maupin. She’s pretty sure that was her aim when she revisited Tilda and friends. Assembling the Wingpeople came out in 2021 and caught up with some of the characters from Carry the Beautiful. It wasn’t anything like Tales of the City in the end but hey ho. It was well received, regardless.
Nicky is currently working on developing The Leeza McAuliffe Stories. The next book in the series is Leeza McAuliffe Has Loads More To Say and will be published in 2024.
Oh, and the official bio is right. She does drink a lot of tea.