27. EXPECTATIONS with Emma Gannon

We all grow up with a sense of the expectations our family or, indeed, wider society might have of us: grow up, get a job, buy a house, get married, have kids, settle down. And yet every single one of those has been challenged by millennial life. Emma Gannon is well-known for her observations on modern working life and in her debut novel, Olive, her eponymous heroine dares to articulate that she doesn't want to have children, only to find that it remains taboo. We spoke with Emma about choosing to be child-free, choosing fiction to express it, and the special bonds of female friendship.

Books mentioned: Olive