Interview | Author Sian Hughes on exploring the idea of the invisible middle-aged woman

Steffie, the unlikely protagonist of Siân Hughes’ darkly funny new novel, No Such Thing as Monday (Picador India), emerged from a writing workshop game. “There would be all these jobs in the middle of the table, and I had to pick one; I always picked the laundress,” says the Cheshire-based teacher and writer, whose debut novel, Pearl, was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2023.

Hughes found herself going back to this character over and over again, continuing to write in the voice of this laundress, who “has been with me for quite a long time”. She began her exploration of Steffie, a deeply flawed, self-destructive woman working at a dry cleaners, by asking her a series of questions: “Why are you so obsessed with getting the stain out of this garment? Why do you feel so impure inside? What has happened to you that makes you feel so unworthy?”