Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Charlotte Butterfield to the blog to talk about her latest book By This Time Tomorrow which is published in paperback tomorrow.
As a child I always loved writing stories; my Dad would photocopy them and I’d sell them at school for 5p! I went on to study English Lit at university and then became a journalist. I didn’t tell anyone at all but when I was living in Dubai working as a magazine editor I wrote a novel and entered it in a competition for unpublished writers at Emirates Literature Festival in 2016 and came second. I couldn’t believe it. The lovely literary agent Luigi Bonomi was one of the judges and signed me. He got me a three-book deal with One More Chapter at Harper Collins and I’ve now got a two-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.
Jessica Bay has it all and it’s all too much. An overworked GP in a busy London practice, mum of two wayward teenagers, wife to Fergus who can remember that it’s been 632 days since they last slept together but can’t remember to put the bins out, Jess leaps at the chance to move to a tiny island in the English Channel to get her family back on track. This island harbours a secret, it can take you back to any day in your past so you get a second chance to do it right. The trouble is, the more Jess meddles in the past, the more she risks losing everything in her present.
Where do you get the inspiration for your books?
Absolutely everywhere! It could be an overheard conversation in a cafe, a song on the radio or a really interesting looking person. There was once a lady on a tube train wearing a necklace with half a heart pendant and my brain started spiralling with the possibilities of who gave it to her, where they were now, and I ended up putting her into Book 3.
What is the best thing about writing, and the hardest?
The best thing is living in a parallel world the whole time, one where you can make the characters say and do whatever you want. The worst is living in a parallel world the whole time! When I’m in the middle of a new book my children can spot my glazed expression when they’re telling me something and immediately pounce on me, ‘are you listening to me or thinking about the book?’
If your book was made into a film who would you like to play the leads?
I have spent longer than is healthy thinking about this! Rose Byrne would be Jess and Michael Fassbender would be Fergus. I’ve also promised my own three kids and all the students I teach that they can be extras in the café and playground scenes, so it HAS to be made into a film now or there will be lots of disappointed children and no one wants that!
What can readers expect from you next?
My next book is coming out in March 2023, and is called You Get That From Me. It’s a book about three generations of women and the unique way they all become mothers. I love writing about funny, feisty, wonderful women so I would imagine any book I write in the future will have a fabulous female at its centre.
Charlotte Butterfield is the author of Me, You & Tiramisu, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and A Beautiful Day for a Wedding. Her fourth book is out May 12th and is called By This Time Tomorrow, published by Hodder.
Instagram: @charliejbutterfield
Twitter: @CharlieJayneB
Facebook: @charlottebutterfieldauthor
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