5. Which of the characters in the book do you identify with most? Are any of them based on people you know?
I have to say I’m a bit of a Rose! None of the things in this book, apart from losing my mother, are based on any events or people from real life, but when I was reading it back I realised how much of myself was in Rose. Her struggles with weight and health ring true to me, and I’m sure a lot of other women – sometimes we are so busy looking after other people we seem to be incapable of looking after ourselves. On a more light-hearted note, my mother-in-law was a model and actress in the 70s and 80s, and tells us lots of amusing stories that seem to get bigger every time – so there time – so there was definitely a spark of that in Andrea’s tales as well!
6. Who is your favourite character and why?
I can’t answer that! I love them all. I identify most with Rose, but I adore Poppy’s feistiness, and love Andrea’s wit and joie-de-vivre. Lewis is great fun, and Joe is adorable … plus, you know, the guy next door is pretty tasty too!
7. Where do you see Rose and Poppy’s journeys heading after the book has finished?
That’s always one of the weird things about writing a book – you finish your story, but the characters still exist in your head. I wrote a book called Pippa’s Cornish Dream in 2015 – a sweet rom com – and every now and then I find myself wondering what Pippa’s up to these days! I like to think that Rose will continue to build her self-esteem, and her new career – we saw the signs of that happening, and I think she’ll get there in the end. She will also get it together with her neighbour, and by the time Joe goes off to university, her life will look very different than it did when we first met her, when she was binging on chocolates and feeling sorry for herself. Poppy … well, I like to think that Poppy writes her best-seller, and lives a brilliantly eccentric life in the cottage – that in some ways she becomes the new Andrea! I was wondering if she should find love, maybe have the child she always secretly wanted – but ultimately I think Poppy’s journey is all about a love affair with herself, and reaching her full potential. She becomes best pals with Lewis, and I like to think they have many adventures together! And – most importantly of course – Poppy and Rose stay firmly in each other’s lives.
8. If you made your own A–Z of Everything, which letters would be easiest to fill first and what would you fill them with?
I’ve actually thought about this … well, not an A–Z exactly, but perhaps about writing down every daft little detail about myself that I can remember – my childhood, my parents, that kind of thing. Not because I’m that egotistical to think it’s interesting, but because I know that at some point (hopefully in the very distant future), my own kids will have to say goodbye to me. They will be the ones with questions – and even if they don’t find me especially fascinating right now, they will once I’m gone! I think if I was going to A-Z it, the big one would be L for Love – I genuinely had no idea how much you could love your own children. The oldest of my three is 19 now, and it is still a revelation to me. Like Andrea, I think I would also want them to try and avoid the big nasties – Guilt and Jealousy are so destructive. I’d probably make D for Dogs … I love Dogs. Or maybe Daniel Craig, depending on what mood I was in …
9. Where’s your favourite writing place, and do you have a particular routine?
I write on my sofa, on a laptop, usually with two old dogs lying next to me snoring away – which they are doing right now! I drop the younger kids at school, come home, write, and then pick them up again. Either side of the school run is delightful chaos – the bit in the middle is where the work gets done. I’m really, really lucky to have been able to build a lifestyle that allows me to both work, and put in my ‘mummy’ time as well.
10. Who are you favourite authors or books and have they had an influence on your writing?
I have so many favourite authors! I love crime fiction and fantasy, and certain authors just delight me every time. Nora Roberts I adore, when she is writing as Nora or as JD Robb, and I think she has been an influence – she’s a great example of how style and humour and romance can be combined with a fast-moving plot. Her characters are always so vivid as well, no matter how many books she writes. I think Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone books have influenced me – I love her strength of character, Kinsey is as real to me as someone I actually know. I love John Connolly – he has a great sense of humour blended into the crime and supernatural themes. I like books with a strong sense of place, which I’ve been told mine also have – like Philip Kerr’s Berlin stories, or James Lee Burke’s Louisiana tales. Mine are in places like Dorset, which isn’t quite as glamorous I know, but I do like the idea of transporting someone out of their daily existence. If I had to Desert Island one series though, it’d be the Belgariad books by David Eddings. They’re just totally perfect little fantasy adventures, which I read as a teenager and my son has since read – in fact the first copy of the first book recently literally fell to pieces, we’ve read it so many times!
Find out more about Debbie on Twitter: @debbiemjohnson
and Facebook: /debbiejohnsonauthor
About the Author
Debbie Johnson is a best-selling author who lives and works in Liverpool, where she divides her time between writing, caring for a small tribe of children and animals, and not doing the housework.
She worked as a journalist for many years, until she decided it would be more fun to make up her own stories than to tell other people’s. After trying her hand at pretty much every genre of writing other than Westerns and spy dramas, she has settled on women’s fiction that seems to make people laugh and make people cry, often at the same time.
Her books include The Birthday That Changed Everything, Pippa’s Cornish Dream, and Summer at the Comfort Food Café, all published by HarperCollins. She also ghost-wrote model and presenter Abbey Clancy’s debut novel, Remember My Name.
If you’d like to find out more about Debbie, visit her on Twitter, Facebook and her blog – she’d love to hear from you!
@debbiemjohnson
www.facebook.com/debbiejohnsonauthor
www.debbiejohnsonauthor.com
Also by Debbie Johnson
Cold Feet at Christmas
Pippa’s Cornish Dream
Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper
The Birthday That Changed Everything
Summer at the Comfort Food Café
Christmas at the Comfort Food Café
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com
The A-Z of Everything Page 31