The Christmas Promise is about Ava whose millinery
business is in trouble and her ex-boyfriend’s threatening her with
revenge porn, and Sam, whose mum is in the elapse between surgery and chemo and he’s trying to give her a special Christmas. Looking for a special gift for his mum, he involves Ava in a promise that she finds it harder and harder to keep.
revenge porn, and Sam, whose mum is in the elapse between surgery and chemo and he’s trying to give her a special Christmas. Looking for a special gift for his mum, he involves Ava in a promise that she finds it harder and harder to keep.
2.
What was your inspiration
for the book?
I decided I wanted to
write a Christmas book at about the same time as my then publisher suggested it.
It began as a novella but I felt that there was plenty of substance to the
idea, enough to make it a novel. Then I joined the Blake Friedmann agency as a
client of Juliet Pickering and she liked the idea and my slant on Christmas –
that it’s not unalloyed pleasure for everybody – and so I found Ava a grittier
conflict and set out to write a novel. I’m not sure I have ‘inspiration’ for
books. I think about things and decide to write about them. I also met a
milliner (somebody who makes hats by hand) and wanted a heroine who had that
gorgeously creative job and that gave me a little of Ava’s personality.
3.
Can you tell us more about
the main characters?
Ava Blissham isn’t
particularly a Christmas person and most of her focus is on how she’s going to
survive financially. She’s under pressure and is feeling bad about herself
because she let her ex-boyfriend, Harvey, take saucy pictures of her when they
were together and now he’s threatening to share them around. This threat hangs
over her and she finds it difficult to talk to other people about it. She finds
it hard to ask for help, generally, which is part of the reason that her
business is in trouble. She’s a good friend to her bestie, Izz, and even though
she has troubles of her own she wants to help Sam’s mum Wendy.
Sam appears to have
everything – money, nice apartment in a trendy place, satisfying and successful
job. But his mum Wendy is ill and he has a special relationship with her and
with his aunt, because they brought him up between them. There’s even a small
chance that this might be Wendy’s last Christmas and so he wants to make it as
special as he can for her, though usually he lets her give him Christmas then
he clears off skiing for New Year. It’s because of trying to cheer Wendy up
that he ends up ‘faux dating’ Ava. You’ll have to read the book to find out
what that means!
4.
The Christmas Promise is a Christmas book, what
is so special about writing a story for this festive time of the year?
Commercially, there’s a
demand for Christmas books. I’m interested in this festive season that most
people in the UK celebrate, causing the country to pretty much grind to a halt
for a couple of days. Christmas often brings out our urge to show our love –
not just to partners but to family, friends and even charities.
5.
What’s your favourite line in The Christmas Promise?
He
curled an arm around the zombie formerly known as Ava Blissham and guided her
through the lobby and into the lift.
6.
What’s your favourite scene in The Christmas Promise?
In Chapter Four when
Ava’s staging a mock hat fitting for Sam. She tries a succession of women’s
hats on him and he protests that he looks like a seaside donkey.
7.
Imagine this book would be turned into a
movie, who would you cast for the main characters?
Michael Fassbender for
Sam and Brittany Snow for Ava.
8.
The Wedding Proposal is another book your wrote, what’s it about?
Set in Malta, where I
grew up, it’s about Elle and Lucas who end up sharing a boat together for the
summer. As they were in a relationship four years earlier, Lucas hates secrets
and Elle has a lot to hide, it makes for friction. I think Lucas learns a lot
about himself and that not every situation is black and white. Most of Elle’s
problems are not of her making and though she’s taken an opportunity to
reinvent herself and step back from stress, meeting Lucas again piles it back
on.
9.
What’s your favourite Christmas memory?
My children decorating
the tree when they were tiny.
10. Do you have a special Christmas tradition?
I have quite a large
and far-flung family but most of us manage to get together between Christmas
and New Year. It means twenty for lunch but, happily, the food itself isn’t
that important!
11. What’s your favourite Christmas song?
The Pogues and Kirsty
MacColl - Fairytale of New York
12. What’s your favourite Christmas movie?
I can’t really pin down
when I last watched one. It was probably The
Santa Clause, which is a great title and the premise of the movie reflected
it. Honestly, I don’t watch many movies. I read.
13. Who would you want to meet under mistletoe?
Jenson Button. (But he
would have to shave.)
14. Your favourite Christmas books?
Brenda Novak wrote two
or three in her Whiskey Creek series.
I liked them all.
15. When do you start your Christmas shopping?
End of November at the
earliest! This began when my kids were small and I wanted my youngest to get
full value out of his birthday before we began thinking about Christmas.
16. Pick three authors you want to have dinner with and
tell us why.
Nevil Shute (this may
be tricky as he died before I was born) for introducing me to sweeping,
exciting love stories such as A Town Like
Alice and Pastoral.
Suzanne Brockmann so I
can chat to her about the way she uses massive global stages for her romantic
suspense yet the romance always stays central.
Jill Shalvis just
because she’s given me so many happy reading hours. As have many, many authors.
If I invited every author I’ve ever liked to dinner we’d need a pretty big
table.
17. Christmas Eve vs Christmas Day?
Christmas Eve because
it’s more relaxed.
18. Favorite
things to eat at Christmas?
Chocolate, dessert,
lamb and bread sauce.
19. Your
favourite Christmas gift?
A pink space hopper when I was a kid in Malta.
I had fun with it for years. It was always hard to ship large toys when we
reached the end of a posting but the space hopper deflated so was fine.
About the author
Award-winning author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary women’s fiction with occasionally unexpected themes. A past vice chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and editor of its two anthologies, Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles, writing ‘how to’ and is a creative writing tutor. She’s won a Readers’ Best Romantic Read Award and the Katie Fforde Bursary.
Sue’s latest book is The Christmas Promise (Avon Books UK, HarperCollins)
Website: www.suemoorcroft.com.
Facebook: sue.moorcroft.3
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/SueMoorcroftAuthor
Twitter: @suemoorcroft
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Amazon author page: Author.to/SueMoorcroft
