Festive Q&A - Day 1: Alexandra Brown

Today I am launching my new festive feature for December - a series of festive Q&A's with some of my favourite authors! They have all been kind enough to answer my questions, and I am really grateful to all of those who have taken part! I hope you enjoy reading them and getting a glimpse into the festive joys of your best-loved authors!

Day 1: Today I am welcoming the lovely Alexandra Brown, author of new festive novel The Great Christmas Knit Off! Welcome, Alexandra! 

Q1. Please tell me about your new festive book!

Thanks Chloe. The Great Christmas Knit Off is the first book in a new series set in the fictional village of Tindledale. Heartbroken after being jilted at the altar, Sybil has been saved from despair by her knitting obsession and now her home is filled to bursting with tea cosies, bobble hats, and jumpers. But, after discovering that she may have perpetrated the cock-up of the century at work, Sybil decides to make a hasty exit and, just weeks before Christmas, runs away to the picturesque village of Tindledale. There, Sybil discovers Hettie¹s House of Haberdashery, an emporium dedicated to the world of knitting and needlecraft. But Hettie, the outspoken octogenarian owner, is struggling and now the shop is due for closure. And when Hettie decides that Sybil’s wonderfully wacky Christmas jumpers are just the thing to add a bit of excitement to her window display, something miraculous starts to happen ...

Q2. What do you think it is about festive books that readers love so much year after year?

Ooh, I love this question. I imagine it’s the anticipation, the ‘getting in the mood for Christmas’ that a good festive book fulfills for the reader. 

Q3. What prompted you to write a Christmas book?

My editor! Only joking, but we do agree the sequence of the books in my series, several months in advance, and I do love writing a seasonal book, whether it’s Christmas or summertime. I find writing about the different weather seasons very helpful in creating atmosphere to propel the story along. 

Q4. Quick fire questions! What's your favourite thing about Christmas?

Seeing my daughter, QT’s, little face on Christmas day morning, when she clocks the massive pile of presents underneath the tree.

Q5. Favourite christmas film?

Can I have two please - It’s A Wonderful Life and White Christmas.

Q6. Favourite christmas song?

So this is Christmas by John Lennon 

Q7. Favourite christmas tradition?

Having shortbread biscuits for breakfast on Christmas day morning, I have no idea where this comes from, but it’s something I’ve done since childhood.

Q8. What are you hoping to find under the Christmas tree this year?!

A gorgeous shiny black Labrador puppy, but failing that, a bottle of Halston Woman perfume.

Q9. What's the best Christmas present you've ever been given and why?

My daughter taking her first five steps on Christmas Day was very special indeed - we had adopted her just a few months earlier after years of wondering whether we would ever celebrate Christmas as parents. 

Q10. What is up next for you?

The next Tindledale book, I’m just about to start writing it for publication in June 2015.

Thank you so much, Alex!

You can buy Alexandra's new book The Great Christmas Knit Off as a paperback or an eBook now.