Graham Norton tells Chris Evans about his new novel Forever Home: ‘Plot thickens, drama ensues’

Virgin Radio

6 Oct 2022, 10:59

Our very own Graham Norton joined The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his fourth novel, Forever Home.

Graham’s new book is out now, and follows Carol, a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, who gets a second chance at love. However, when her new husband falls ill, things start to unravel. The author told Chris: “His wife had left him, so he’s got adult children, she’s got an adult son, and that’s great. They’ve found love. Wonderful! But he gets ill, and his kids spend no time at all getting him out of the house, into a home, and turfing her out of the house.”

Carol's mother, Moira, is determined to get to the bottom of things. “She decides to right a wrong, like a moral warrior, and in doing so, stirs up a whole mess of trouble,” Graham explained. “Plot thickens, drama ensues. The end!” 

Speaking about Carol’s mother, Graham said: “Moira brought the funny. I wasn’t expecting this book to be funny. But Moira, she’s in her late 80s, she’s a particular sort of Irish mother. She shows her love by doing, rather than saying.”

Graham has previously published three novels; Holding (2016), A Keeper (2018) and Home Stretch (2020), as well as two autobiographies. He told Chris: “I call writing my credible hobby. It’s my pleasure.”

The presenter is also known for his role as the UK’s Eurovision commentator, which he took over from Sir Terry Wogan in 2009. Speaking about Sam Ryder’s amazing performance in coming second as the UK’s representative earlier this year, Graham said: “He’s taken the curse off Eurovision. I think it will be really interesting to see the people who come out of the woodwork, saying, ‘Oh, maybe I will have a go now,’ because he’s made it cool again.”

Sam will be chatting and performing on the five-time BAFTA TV Award-winning Graham Norton Show this Friday. On top of that, Graham told Chris that the pair will also be on BBC’s The One Show earlier that evening, saying: “Myself and Sam, on Friday night, we will be discussing where Eurovision is going to be, on the telly. We’ll know by then.”

Whilst news of which UK city Eurovision 2023 will be in is imminent, Graham told Chris that he doesn’t have the inside scoop yet. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Happily I don’t know, so you can’t get that out of me!” 

Of course, a well as his TV programme, Eurovision and books, Graham also has his own show on Virgin Radio on Saturdays and Sundays. When talking about how much he enjoys presenting The Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose, the host said: “I really like it. And you know what really brought it home to me was doing those shows after the Queen died. There was some talk that we would cancel, we wouldn’t do the weekend shows. In the end, we decided, yes we will do them, because we’re there for everything else. We’re there for birthdays, anniversaries, people running the marathon, taking your kids to university, whatever, we’re there, so we’ll be there for this.”

He continued: “I was quite nervous doing those shows, and actually it was lovely because there was such a sense of community that I was getting texts from people who text in all the time, and it was like we were all gathered together. 

“I really loved that weekend. Those six hours with those listeners was just lovely.”

Forever Home is out now.

Listen to The Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose every Saturday AND Sunday from 9:30 am on Virgin Radio or catch up on-demand here.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.