Those are all really, really hard questions, and they're really personal. On how writing The Nest has changed her ideas on money, inheritance, luck and hard work Whether that's a great thing or a hampering thing, I guess depends on your perspective and who you are.

And I do think that part of that is parents supporting their kids well into their adulthood and, you know, allowing them more creative pursuits. And I do think that's changed a little bit. It was really expected that you needed a job to support yourself and to support your family. You know, I didn't know people who had the luxury of pursuing an artistic life. You didn't go to college to be an artist. I've been asked a lot why it took me so long to write fiction. And that's what I really think the book is about. We all inherit something when we're born, and that's a place in a family narrative. And once I started started answering those questions, that's how the story started to take shape.' And I just started thinking about who the people would be and why they needed courage to see one another, and why they couldn't drink in front of one of another, and what was difficult about this meeting they were about to have. 'And I just had an image in my head of family members who are about to get together, but they're having a separate drink. 'I was noticing all of these people sitting in the window with their drinks, on every street corner,' she says.

Sweeney tells NPR's Kelly McEvers she got the idea for the book while walking through Manhattan one day, on her way to meet her own family for brunch. And the siblings start fighting over them. But then dies unexpectedly of a heart attack - and those funds eventually grow. They've spent their lives awaiting the modest trust fund they've nicknamed 'the nest.' Their father, Leonard Sr., has set it up to be dispersed once Melody, the youngest, turned 40. In her funny debut novel, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney explores the idea of how one possible inheritance affects the four adult siblings of the Plumb family. Trillions of dollars will be passed from one generation to the other in the form of inheritance over the next few decades. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Nest Author Cynthia D'aprix Sweeney

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney