We love the concept of The 12 days of Christmas, how did the story develop?
I adore writing about the simple pleasures in life, so my books tend to revolve around love, friendship and community, set in beautiful places, as well as dealing with some of the more complex issues – a little grit in the oyster, if you like… (oops, get me, talking about food again!). I do like a plot device that contains a story within a short, specific time span and that’s something that works well for the eternally popular Christmas novel. The carol “The 12 Days of Christmas” achieves that for me by containing all the action within the period from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night. (I did a similar thing with my other Christmas novel, “25 Days in December” which was a countdown to Christmas following an advent calendar.) I decided I wanted a really big food component in this novel because a) Christmas food is great and b) I like thinking about food, a lot.
Your recipes are mouth-watering, how did you decide what to include?
Some of the recipes come under the heading of Christmassy food, but others – such as the meringue swans with rose and pomegranate – were inspired purely by the words of the carol i.e “seven swans a-swimming’. Having talked so vividly (hopefully!) about the cooking in the book it would have felt mean not to have included the recipes at the back of the book and these are very typical of my own cooking, which is definitely more ‘Mary Berry’ home-cooking than shouty chef “Gordon Ramsay”. I would love to hear from readers who have had a go at the recipes themselves.
If you were planning a favourite meal what would it be?
Like many others, in deference to the environment and health, we eat more vegetarian food nowadays. My favourite meal currently would be a delicious spinach, sweet potato and chickpea curry, which I make a lot, followed by a particular Nigella chocolate cheesecake I make only at Christmas because – to be honest – it’s a bit of a faff. It’s totally worth it, but – at about six zillion calories a slice – it’s probably just as well it’s an annual treat.
Can you tell us a little about your next book?
Ah! Well… I have so many new books buzzing around my head, some already written, some just an idea, but what is keeping me out of mischief at the moment is a story about three close female friends, in their 20s, 40s and 70s, united by their love of wild swimming and all facing very different life-changing challenges together There’s a charming romance and a hunky hero in there too, and readers can be assured of big emotional journeys with – of course – an uplifting ending. But that’s all I’m saying for now…
You first started writing when you were very young, what brought you back to it?
I was telling stories from an early age but it’s easy to get distracted from all that by the complexities of adult life, the need to have a career, earn a living etc. My work in journalism, lobbying and PR meant that I was doing a lot of writing to order – anything from brochure copy to magazine articles – and I realised the writing part of my work was by far the most enjoyable aspect for me. When I finally came up for air in my thirties, when I had a young family and was only working part-time, I slowly started getting some story-telling back into my life. A friend insisted I enter the Good Housekeeping and Orion Novel Writing Competition, and – when I was one of three runners-up out of 3,500 entries, I realised novel-writing was genuinely something I could consider. I was lucky enough to obtain agent representation and publishing deals followed!
When you are not writing, what do you do to relax?
I very much value the close family and friends in my life, and nothing is more pleasurable to me than cooking a meal for the people I love and then catching up with each other’s lives as we eat. A glass of wine, a walk with the dog in the beautiful countryside where I live, a coffee with my ever-supportive husband… it’s the simple things for me, and I hope that cherishing of simple pleasures comes through in my writing too.
THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS by Poppy Alexander published by Orion available in Paperback Original, eBook and audio £8.99