'How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder' is a dark new novel about sisterhood

Summary

Podcast Summary: NPR’s Book of the Day

Episode Title: 'How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder' is a dark new novel about sisterhood
Host: Andrew Limbong
Interviewed By: Asia Roscoe
Guest: Nina McConaughey (Author)
Date: February 4, 2026

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Overview

This episode centers on Nina McConaughey’s debut novel, How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder, a dark and moving story about two biracial sisters grappling with trauma, identity, and the indelible bond of sisterhood. The discussion explores how the book weaves together themes of postcolonial legacy, cultural dislocation, familial secrets, and the complexities of survivorhood, all inspired by McConaughey’s lived experiences and her desire to write a “sister book” in the tradition of Middlemarch and The Color Purple.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis and Setting of the Novel

• The Story Starts in Small-Town Wyoming:
  • The protagonists, sisters Georgie Iyer Creel (12) and Agatha Krishna (14), navigate an isolating childhood as among the only Indian-American kids in Marley, Wyoming.
  • Their father is a petroleum geologist; their Indian-born mother faces the challenge of integrating into this predominantly white, rural community.

  “As many people know, Wyoming is dependent on the oil and gas and energy industry. ... For Georgie and Agatha Krishna's mother, it's a difficult transition because ... they're like some of the only brown people in town.” (Nina McConaughey, 03:00)

2. Author’s Personal Connection & Motivation

• Based on Lived Experience:
  • McConaughey grew up biracial in Wyoming, often being among the only Indian families in town, echoing the novel’s setting and circumstances.
  • She wanted to subvert expectations of “Indian stories” by addressing cultural tropes up front and then moving beyond them.

  “As a biracial author... a lot of people want a certain story from you when you're a writer of color. I think I really wanted to subvert that when I wrote this book.” (Nina McConaughey, 04:06)

3. Identity and ‘Splitting’

• Internal Splits and Colonial Legacies:
  • The motif of being ‘split’—between Indian and American identity, innocence and trauma—is pervasive.
  • McConaughey relates it to both personal and historical schisms, such as the Partition of India and Pakistan.

  “My mom was a child when India and Pakistan split. That was the first split I was thinking about. ... There's splits of girlhood into womanhood. ... That split of being in the middle, not really being Indian, not really being white.” (McConaughey, 05:19)

  • The protagonist Georgie also experiences dissociation (“splitting from herself”) during trauma.

4. The Title & Theme: Postcolonialism and Extraction

• Parallels Between Colonialism and Abuse:
  • McConaughey describes colonialism as “extraction” — taking resources, agency, and identity — and likens it to the girls’ lack of control during abuse.
  • The sisters’ attempted revenge is cast as a form of “fighting back” against these forces.

  “At its heart, what is colonialism? ... It’s extraction. ... Then I thought about these girls and the ways that their bodies ... are not in control of them with the abuse.” (McConaughey, 06:19)

5. Nuanced View of Colonial Legacy

• Ambivalence and Cultural Hybridity:
  • The family’s relationship with colonial Britain is complicated: anger at the British is mixed with nostalgia (the girls’ mother is an Anglophile, loves royal weddings).

  “I wanted to show the complications of colonialism, that it isn’t always as easy in black and white as it sometimes seems.” (McConaughey, 07:26)

  • This lays the groundwork for the novel’s nuanced engagement with postcolonial themes.

6. Abuse and Family Silence

• Why the Sisters Keep Silent:
  • Complexity, shame, love, and fear of “splitting” their family prevent the girls from revealing their uncle’s abuse, mirroring real-life dynamics in abusive families.

  “…they know what will happen if they tell—that the family will be split apart. ... On some level, they also love their uncle. ... That makes things incredibly complicated.” (McConaughey, 08:02)

7. Aftermath and the Bond of Sisterhood

• How Secret and Guilt Shape the Sisters’ Lives:
  • The attempted murder (by antifreeze poisoning, which they delay for a Van Halen concert) ends the abuse but fractures their relationship.
  • The novel ultimately focuses on how the sisters struggle with guilt and trauma while trying to “find their way back to each other,” drawing thematically from classic sister novels.

  “This really isn’t a book about abuse and murder. It’s really a book about sisterhood and how sisters bond and stay together ... after you’ve done this sort of unspeakable act.” (McConaughey, 08:48)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Subverting Expectations:

  “I wanted to just say those things so I could tell the story in the way I wanted to tell it.” (McConaughey, 04:06)

• On Internal Division:

  “That split of being in the middle, of not really being Indian, not really being white.” (McConaughey, 05:19)

• On Colonial Legacy:

  “I wanted... to show the complications of colonialism, that it isn’t always as easy in black and white as it sometimes seems.” (McConaughey, 07:26)

• On Sisterhood:

  “So many books that have meant so much to me have been books with sisters. ... I just wanted to look back and make my own sister book.” (McConaughey, 08:48)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:26–02:20: Opening passage from the novel, showing the sisters blaming everything—from Reagan to the Olympics—for their situation.
• 03:00–03:25: McConaughey explains the family’s move to Wyoming and its challenges.
• 04:06–04:41: Discussion of subverting cultural stereotypes and expectations.
• 05:19–06:03: The motif of “splitting” in identity and trauma, influenced by Partition and personal experience.
• 06:19–06:54: Linking colonialism to the girls’ abuse and lack of agency.
• 07:18–07:50: Complicated feelings about colonial legacy and cultural hybridity.
• 08:02–08:31: On the family silence around abuse and its emotional complexity.
• 08:48–09:28: The aftermath: how guilt and secrecy impact sisterhood and healing.

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Conclusion

Nina McConaughey’s How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder is as much about the lasting scars of colonialism and trauma as it is a tribute to the deep, sometimes fraught ties of sisterhood. The novel offers a nuanced, layered exploration of identity, “splitting,” and resilience, with a narrative voice that both acknowledges and resists expectations of what a story by and about Indian Americans can be.

Guest: Nina McConaughey
Hosted/Interviewed by: Asia Roscoe
Recommended for listeners interested in:

• Literary fiction
• Postcolonial studies
• Stories about sisterhood
• Indian American and biracial identity
• Family secrecy and trauma

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. When you and your sibling decide to do something bad together, a bond forms. You are more than just siblings now. You are partners. Now. The bad thing I have in mind is along the lines of lying to your parents about a party or something. But the sisters in the novel how to Commit a Postcolonial Murder have something more serious serious in mind. Author Nina McConaughey talks to NPR's Asia Roscoe about how the book was inspired by a few other great sister novels, Middlemarch and the Color Purple, and how she just wanted to write her own sister book. That's after the break.

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[Asia Roscoe]

At the start of a dark new novel, Georgie Iyer Creel is looking back to the pivotal summer when she was 12 and her sister Agatha Krishna was 14.

[Nina McConaughey]

Agatha Krishna said it started when they came, so that's where you could put the blame. But then she said we had to go further back than that. So we blamed it on Reagan. Everyone blamed him. That summer, the summer the country went into a bust, the summer we watched an exodus empty out of our town. Then I blamed the Cold War and Gorbachev. He had that stain on his head, and thus, I felt, couldn't be trusted. We blamed aids, which we didn't really get but thought you could get from the water fountain at the public library you stepped on with your foot. We blamed the Olympics and hated Sam the Eagle, their feathered mascot, who dressed like Uncle Sam in red, white and blue, though secretly I had a button of him with his sly smile and torch. We blamed it on my parents for moving to Wyoming in the first place, for settling in Marley. And then we just generally blamed them for everything. We thought they shouldn't have married, that they shouldn't have mixed us up, shouldn't have made us halfsies.

[Asia Roscoe]

So the sisters ultimately settle on blaming the British, though acknowledging it's their Uncle Vinnie or Vinnie uncle who'll Pay. How to Commit a Post Colonial Murder is the debut novel of Nina McConaughey, who's with us now. Welcome to the program.

[Nina McConaughey]

Thank you for having me.

[Asia Roscoe]

Before we dive into talking about your book, I do need to let the listeners know that we will be discussing sexual abuse. That's at the root of why these sisters decide to take action. Tell us more about Georgie and Agatha Krishna and how their Indian born mother ended up in Marley, Wyoming.

[Nina McConaughey]

Yeah. In the book, the girl's mother has met their father traveling, and he is a petroleum geologist. And as many people know, Wyoming is dependent on the oil and gas and energy industry. And so they try to make a life there. Though, for Georgie and Agatha Krishna's mother, it's a difficult transition because they're like.

[Asia Roscoe]

Some of the only brown people in town and some of the only Indians in town, right?

[Nina McConaughey]

Absolutely. And that is very similar to my growing up. I grew up in Wyoming, and we were definitely some of the only brown people and Indians in town through my whole life. And even now.

[Asia Roscoe]

For Georgie, the book starts with her addressing the reader, the audience, and kind of anticipating their assumptions about Indian Americans, like whether they eat meat, the girls do, what their religion is. They're not Hindu or Muslim, they're Christians. Is Georgie trying to get it out of the way for the story that she really needs to tell?

[Nina McConaughey]

I feel so. You know, I. As a biracial author, I felt like a lot of people want a certain story from you when you're a writer of color. I think I really wanted to subvert that when I wrote this book. And so for that reason, I thought, you know, why not just get it out of the way? Like, let's talk about mangoes and food and religion and poverty and saris and all the things people want to see in an Indian. I mean, it's a little cheeky, but I felt like I wanted to just say those things so I could tell the story in the way I wanted to tell it.

[Asia Roscoe]

Georgie talks about their identities being split. Like, even though they were born in Wyoming, they're not seen as American, but they're not fully Indian either. She also brings up this notion of being split when it comes to the disassociation that happens to her when her uncle is abusing her, like she's being split from herself, split from her innocence. Why did you use this idea of separation or splitting for Georgie?

[Nina McConaughey]

I taught at the University of Wyoming for a long time, and I taught a lot of Indian and postcolonial literature. And I feel like, as an Indian writer, the great split of India and Pakistan just looms in you, like you think about it, it's talked about. My mom was a child when India and Pakistan split. And so that was the first split I was thinking about. And then I thought about what are all the different ways that people split. I mean, I look at a state like Wyoming, we were split with the reservation and with the rest of the state, there's splits of girlhood into womanhood. I'm biracial. And so that split of being in the middle, of not really being Indian, not really being white.

[NPR Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Nina McConaughey]

I just became really kind of obsessed with the ide of splits and how I could put that in the book in so many different forms.

[Asia Roscoe]

The title is how to commit a Post Colonial Murder. How do you layer on the colonialism with what happens in the personal lives of these girls? Right, because it's a very personal story.

[Nina McConaughey]

Yeah. I mean, I was thinking a lot about at its heart, what is colonialism? And I think it's extraction. It's taking something from a place, it's taking from a land, it's taking its people, it's taking its race. Then I started thinking about these girls and the ways that their bodies are literally, they're not in control of them with the abuse. And so I wanted them then to like, turn it around and say, how do we fight back? How do we say enough is enough? And, you know, from there the idea of murder was sort of born. I've never killed anybody in real life or done anything like that.

[NPR Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yes.

[Asia Roscoe]

Yeah, that's good to make clear. I mean, the girls actually, they plan to poison Vinnie uncle with antifreeze, but then they delay it for a month or two to let them go to a Van Halen concert. Are they really holding off? Because they're conflicted about their plans and obviously their mother, his sister, loves them so much.

[Nina McConaughey]

Colonialism is complicated. Of course, I can look at it from afar and say it was absolutely awful. I can't believe the British were in India.

[NPR Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

But.

[Nina McConaughey]

But then there's aspects I look at my mom's generation where they really held up certain British things. My mom's a complete Anglophile when it comes to the royal wedding. And I wanted that mother in the book to sort of also love watching Diana and Charles. I wanted to show the complications of colonialism, that it isn't always as easy in black and white as it sometimes seems.

[Asia Roscoe]

Why don't Georgie and Agatha Krishna go and tell their parents about Vinnie uncle's abuse? Because their par they do seem, you know, very loving and attentive.

[Nina McConaughey]

Yeah, I mean, I think so many people who are victims of abuse, they're scared and there's a lot of shame around it and a lot of complicated feelings. And I think that for these girls, they know what will happen if they tell that the family will be split apart. And I think they know it would hurt their mother, even though of course, as an adult I can sit and say, of course tell your mother, of course tell a parent. On some level, they also love their uncle. I mean, he is family. And that makes things incredible complicated, I.

[Asia Roscoe]

Think, to tell the murder plot against Vinny uncle. I mean, it stops the abuse. But there are these consequences. What does this secret that they have do to the relationship between the sisters?

[Nina McConaughey]

As I worked through draft after draft, I thought to myself, you know, this really isn't a book about abuse and murder. It's really a book about sisterhood and how sisters bond and stay together and how do you stay close after you've done this sort of unspeakable act? And for them, it does splinter them apart, living with the guilt. And even though the abuse has stopped, I think they're very traumatized by what's happened. So much of the end of the book is just them trying to find their way back to each other. So many books that have meant so much to me have been books with sisters. And so, you know, from the Color Purple to Middlemarch. And so I just wanted to look back and sort of make my own sister book.

[Asia Roscoe]

That's Nina McConaughle. Her debut novel is how to Commit a Post Colonial Murder. Thank you so much for being with us.

[Nina McConaughey]

Thank you so much for having me.

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[Nina McConaughey]

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