Q&A with Miranda Nation - Author of New Skin

Allen & Unwin
Jun 17
4 min read

Updated: Jul 2

We chat with author of New Skin, Miranda Nation.

A&U: Hey Miranda! Thanks so much for chatting to us! Can you tell us a bit about your debut novel New Skin?

MN: New Skin is a story about first love and its power to shape us. Alex and Leah meet in medical school in the ‘90s and start an intense and passionate love affair. The novel follows them over the next twenty years as their paths diverge in very different directions – Leah drops out to be an actor, while Alex becomes an ED doctor – but they keep being drawn irresistibly back to each other. It’s about those heady years of our late teens and early twenties, and the choices we make then that reverberate through our lives.

A&U: How did the idea for New Skin originate?

MN: Like Leah, I studied med in the ‘90s before dropping out to follow my dream of being an actor. I’ve often thought about that pivotal time, about the choice I made then and the way it shaped my life. Covid brought this into stark focus, I imagined a parallel existence where I was on the frontline with the other health workers, doing something constructive. I’d written a novel ten years ago, about a young couple searching for identity in those reckless, intoxicating years. The novel never saw the light of day, but I felt there might be something in it. I pulled it out with the idea of reworking it. I ended up writing a new novel entirely, but the kernel of the story remained the same.

A&U: The novel follows Alex and Leah over several decades – together and apart. Why do you think they were so drawn to one another. If they’d met one another later in life, do you think they would still have this connection?

MN: That’s such a great question! We’re conditioned to believe that there’s one ‘right’ person out there. Leah and Alex are definitely soul mates, with an intense emotional, intellectual and sexual attraction, but I think it’s also a matter of timing. That period in your late teens and early twenties is such a heady time, filled with so many firsts. We come to those early relationships with an openness and vulnerability that we might not have in the same way later, when we’ve been hurt or disappointed, or have a greater knowledge of who we are and what we want. I think that Alex and Leah would still have been attracted to each other if they met later, but perhaps not with the same ferocity.

A&U: Both Alex and Leah confront some pretty heavy issues over the decades, both battling their own demons. Why did you want to explore these themes?

MN: I’ve had ongoing struggles with mental health over the years, especially in my late teens and early twenties. I want to live in a society where we have frank and open discussions about mental health, where people can access the support that they need without fear of stigma. I hope that being honest about my own experience can make a small but positive contribution. It’s one of the strange dichotomies of the writer, being an introvert who processes deeply personal things in a public forum!

A&U: Leah has to make a very important decision about her future when she’s quite young – deciding whether to pursue her passion or stay on a more conventional path. Do you think she made the right choice? Is it always best to follow your heart?

MN: Ha, that’s an existential question! The whole novel is essentially me trying to work that out. It does seem strange that we expect teenagers to know what they want to do with their lives when they’re still figuring out who they are. Having said that, I decided that I wanted to be an actor from about six years old. I ended up bowing to pressure to choose a ‘real’ job but was unhappy trying to conform to other people’s expectations. Following my heart definitely led me to a better place psychologically. But would it have been more noble to choose a job that helps others? And how much control do we actually have anyway? Do we have total agency over the course of our lives, or is it all mapped out for us in advance? I’m not sure that I know the answers.

A&U: What do you hope readers get from reading New Skin?

MN: I hope they can relate to the heady experience of first love and its complications. I hope they get swept up in the highs and lows of Alex and Leah’s love affair and care about what happens to them. Perhaps they’ll see something of themselves in the characters’ struggle to find their way in a confusing world. I hope they’re moved by the story.