Festive Fun: My Fantasy Christmas Dinner Party by Elisabeth Carpenter

Tonight it's the penultimate Fantasy Christmas Dinner Party and it's my absolute pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Elisabeth Carpenter.

Thank you, Sharon, for having me on your blog.

I love the idea of a fantasy dinner party, but I’d not thought seriously about who I’d like to invite until now. Narrowing it down to authors made this a little easier, though with the choice of living or dead it took me longer than it should to decide!

My venue would be a large dining room with a high ceiling in a large country house complete with views of Lake Windermere. The table is decorated with flowers and candles. It’s Christmastime, so of course it would be snowing outside where tealights would be hung around the grounds.

Carson from Downton Abbey (he doesn’t count as a guest – he’s an extra for the evening) would greet everyone as they arrive. 

And the first to arrive would be Charlotte Bronte – the author of one of my favourite books Jane Eyre. I think she’d appreciate good timekeeping and hasn’t come from too far away being from Yorkshire. I’m so curious to know what she looked like as there are so few portraits of her because, apparently, she hated her appearance. What paintings and drawings there are of her are said to be flattering and don’t offer a true likeness. Displayed at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth is a dress she wore; she was so tiny! So, at least I wouldn’t be the shortest person in the room (not that it matters when sitting down).

Charlotte was successful in her lifetime, and I’d ask her what it was like to be famous back then. I think she enjoyed her status as a successful author. I would also ask her about happy times in her life – she’s portrayed as quite angst-ridden, but there’s a great sense of humour in her novels. 

The rest of the guests would arrive at the same time because they’ve clubbed together to hire a car (or maybe helicopter if we’re pushing the boat out) from their meeting point in London. 

Charles Dickens would sit nearest the fireplace, as it reminds him of bleaker times. Charlotte and Charles (get me, calling them by their first names) were contemporaries, and I’m not sure if they ever met, so I would seat them apart in case they bore any grudges. I picked Dickens as he wrote A Christmas Carol – very apt for this time of year. I loved the sci-fi element the book has, with Scrooge seeing his Christmas future.  

Next would be Judy Blume and I’d seat her next to me. Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret? was one of my favourite books as a child. She wrote about things you couldn’t talk to your mum about – sometimes even your friends about. There is an honesty to her writing that I find such an inspiration. 

Books Read: 11 Missed Calls by Elisabeth Carpenter

Here are two things I know about my mother:
1. She had dark hair, like mine. 
2. She wasn’t very happy at the end.

Anna has always believed that her mother, Debbie, died 30 years ago on the night she disappeared.

But when her father gets a strange note, she realises that she’s never been told the full story of what happened that night on the cliff.

Confused and upset, Anna turns to her husband Jack – but when she finds a love letter from another woman in his wallet, she realises there’s no-one left to help her, least of all her family.

And then a body is found…

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Blogiversary Giveaway: Win debut novels from Elisabeth Carpenter & Caroline England

Eagle eyed visitors of the blog may have already noticed that I have previously featured both Elisabeth Carpenter and Caroline England on the blog as part of their blog tours, if you missed their posts you can read them here.  As well as doing the debut spotlight features I was also sent paperback copies of their books, 99 Red Balloons and Beneath the Skin, to review but as I already had ecopies of both I decided to offer these as a giveaway prize.  The original intention had been to review both books alongside this giveaway but sadly I haven't had a chance to read yet so the reviews will follow at a later date.

Two girls go missing, decades apart. What would you do if one was your daughter?

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.

What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?

Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…

Debut Spotlight: Elisabeth Carpenter

Today it's my absolute pleasure to shine the spotlight on author Elisabeth Carpenter on the latest leg of the blog tour for her debut novel 99 Red Balloons which was published last month.

Elisabeth Carpenter lives in Preston with her family. She completed a BA in English Literature and Language with the Open University in 2011.

Elisabeth was awarded a Northern Writers’ New Fiction award, and was longlisted for Yeovil Literary Prize (2015 and 2016) and the MsLexia Women’s Novel award (2015). She loves living in the north of England and sets most of her stories in the area, including the novel she is writing at the moment. She currently works as a book keeper.

99 Red Balloons is the fifth manuscript I’ve written. I started writing short stories in the late 1990s when my eldest son was little, but it wasn’t until my second son was born (fourteen years later!) that I began my first novel. I spent three years writing and re-writing it and sent it to so many agents, I ran out of places to email it! 

After three writing three other novels (now consigned to the ‘bottom drawer’ of my laptop), I had an idea for another: 99 Red Balloons. I received several offers of representation for this book and it was a surreal time – I couldn’t believe it! The next nail-biting time would be finding the right publisher.

The book went on submission in the summer of 2016 while I was on holiday in Cornwall. At first, I tried not to look at emails, but I ended up checking every notification! In the August, we had an offer from Phoebe Morgan at Avon HarperCollins. It all happened so fast, I still can’t believe it’s real!  

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey? 
I began writing my first novel in 2011 after my second son was born, which isn’t that long ago really. I wrote short stories before that, but I find them more difficult. 99 Red Balloons is the fifth manuscript I’ve written – and the first psychological thriller.

If you had to give an elevator pitch for 99 Red Balloons, what would it be? 
When Stephanie’s eight-year-old niece disappears, family secrets bubble to the surface. Stephanie helps support Emma through the search for her daughter – after all, they are sisters - or so everyone thinks. 

Maggie’s granddaughter was tragically abducted in the 1980s. Until one day, she watches a police appeal for a missing child – one of the women on the news looks strangely familiar. What starts as a passing thought becomes an obsession that soon spirals and takes over her life.
(Sorry – that’s longer than the standard elevator pitch. I’d have to talk quickly!)

99 Red Balloons was an iconic pop tune for those of us old enough to remember, how did the book title come about?
The song was on the radio all the time when I lived in Germany as a child. Part of the book is set there, so the song weaved itself through the narrative. 

My working title, however, was ‘Remember Me’, but I didn’t think that was memorable enough!