Poppy Alexander's new novel is 25 Days 'Til Christmas.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for 25 Days 'Til Christmas, and for your characters Kate and Daniel?--Marshal Zeringue
A: Now, that’s an interesting one! It all came about in a way which is becoming increasingly common in publishing, from what I can gather: A commissioning editor at the British publisher, Orion, was chatting with my agent about the books she was buying, and she happened to mention that she was failing to find the kind of Christmas-themed novel she was after.
My agent then approached me to ask whether I would be prepared to look at an idea this editor had around a girl selling Christmas trees and a man who was grieving and the two characters being attracted to each other’s loneliness in the lead up to Christmas.
She had some really lovely examples of how Kate had loved Christmas in the old days but now she was a widow bringing up her son Jack on her own, she didn’t feel like doing all those things in the lead up to Christmas.
By the time I had given Daniel a bit more of a back story about losing his disabled sister and decided...[read on]