November Book of the month: One Day in December by Josie Silver, Read and join our author webchat on Tuesday 4 December at 9pm

[RachelMumsnet]

After a couple of nail-biting reads, our November book of the months offers you something a little different and is the perfect book for curling up and reading on a cold winter's night.

Josie Silver's One Day in December follows three characters through 10 years of love, heartbreak and friendship. Find out more about the book and read or listen to an extract and then join us in reading in November before our webchat with Josie on Tuesday 4th December, 9pm.

Thanks Rachel - it's only 99p on kindle too🙂

Fab thanks, off to get this on Kindle!

Thanks for the book MN!

It was a lovely (almost festive) quick read. The characters felt real and if I was 20 years younger I could probably empathise with them. I feel I'm too old and cynical now! Even though I'm not the target audience I did enjoy the story. It was well written and I liked the way the author moved through the years without overexplaining what had gone on in the characters lives.

I'd like to ask if any other endings were considered? Or different paths for the characters lives? Was the full story plotted out before you began writing or did it develop organically?

That's 3 questions now - sorry!

I loved this book and the way that the story developed but I was disappointed that the cover virtually gave way the ending which spoilt any surprise element for me. I would like to ask if any of the characters are based upon either you yourself or anyone you know?

Really enjoyed the book!

I'd like to know if it was made to film who you would see star in it?

I really enjoyed this - when 'bus boy' first turned up I thought the love triangle thing might be a bit cheesy but it deftly avoided that. I loved how the women's friendship was as central as the romantic ones and how it developed.

I'd like to ask if you've thought about a sequel or if it's best left to the imagination- I'd like to see the girls meeting up again in the future

I really enjoyed One Day in December. A lovely book for any romantic. I liked how all the relationships within the book change and develop, not just between the central characters of Laurie and Jack. Heartwarming, but it did make me sniffle a bit.

I am looking forward to your next novel, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.
When is this one going to be available?

Moreover,

• What was the inspiration for the story? Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?

• Why 'bus boy'? Just because of the alliteration?

• Do you believe in destiny?

Really enjoyed the book. Here are my qs (also spoiler alert):

1. Did you have the happy ending in mind from the start? Were you ever tempted to give it a more tragic, messier ending?
2. Do you see Laurie and Jack's relationship lasting in the long-run?
3. Why did you decide to set it over 10 years?

Thanks!

I really enjoyed this book - a really fun, festive read.

Were you torn on how to end the book? I could see it going either way, what lead you to your final decision?

How did you react when you found out Reese Witherspoon had chosen it for her book of the month for the book club? Was it a surprise?

I loved the book - I read it as an ARC and adored Laurie and Jack's story.

Hi folks, hope you're looking forward to tonight's webchat with author Josie Silver. Alongside having your question about One Day in December answered, anyone who joins in will be entered into a Mumsnet hat to win a copy of our January Book of the Month which is... The Woman in the Window by A J Finn

Really enjoyed this book. Thanks! Similar to others I wonder whether you thought of an alternative ending? Do you have personal experience of a holiday romance / love at first sight or moving to another country for love?
What book would you like to receive as a Christmas gift?

A hearty welcome this chilly evening to Josie Silver, author of our November book and thoroughly cockle-warming read, One Day in December

Thanks for joining us, Josie! Looks like there are a few questions in already, so over to you…

Hi MumsNet readers! I’m joining you tonight from my sofa in the Black Country in the West Midlands - thanks so much for having me over to chat!

@FernieB

Thanks for the book MN!

It was a lovely (almost festive) quick read. The characters felt real and if I was 20 years younger I could probably empathise with them. I feel I'm too old and cynical now! Even though I'm not the target audience I did enjoy the story. It was well written and I liked the way the author moved through the years without overexplaining what had gone on in the characters lives.

I'd like to ask if any other endings were considered? Or different paths for the characters lives? Was the full story plotted out before you began writing or did it develop organically?

That's 3 questions now - sorry!

Hi FernieB,
Thanks for your questions (s), I’m so glad you enjoyed the book!
So, were other endings considered? Honestly no - I knew where I wanted all of the characters to end up, but how they reached their end points was completely fluid. I’m not a plotter (I really wish I was, it would make the job a whole lot less stressful!)
I tend to have a beginning, couple of the major plot turns and the end in mind and then just sit down to see what happens as I write it. That said, I did actually write two different endings for the book - the same basic things happened, but how they came about differed. The ending in the book is more bells and whistles than the other version, and people thankfully seem to appreciate it after sharing a decade of the characters lives!

Hi Josie,
I really enjoyed the book. Like others I thought the description of the girl's ongoing relationship was as compelling as the love story.
My question is whether the London setting was an important part of the story or could it have taken place anywhere?

@SallySwann

I loved this book and the way that the story developed but I was disappointed that the cover virtually gave way the ending which spoilt any surprise element for me. I would like to ask if any of the characters are based upon either you yourself or anyone you know?

Hi SallySwann,
I’m so glad you loved the book! I understand what you mean about the cover. They’re very much a marketing tool - I guess it broadly conveys romance and Christmas, and being devils advocate... it could be Laurie & Oscar?
The characters aren’t based directly on me or on people I know, but it’s fair to say bits of me make it into all of my characters - it’s inevitable really. I’m more a Laurie than a Sarah in that I’m more reserved and a bit of a homebird, but different parts of the characters are pulled from lots of other people - people I know and like (or don’t!), characters from TV, all kinds of places. It’s odd at the beginning of writing a book, you have this cast of strangers to get to know. I usually find that I rewrite the beginning of a book again after I’ve written the end, because I know the characters so much better by that stage.

@littlerose12345

Really enjoyed the book!

I'd like to know if it was made to film who you would see star in it?

Hi Littlerose12345
Good question, and one that occupies my most wishful thoughts! I really struggle here though, mostly because I’m in my forties and the characters are younger - all of my fave movie star references are too old! I think they’d def need to be Brits, or else do a very convincing accent. Laurie would be a classic english rose, so perhaps someone like Emma Watson or Emilia Clarke? Jack is even harder. It needs to be someone who can pull of arrogant, tender and vulnerable all at the same time - any ideas?

@MrsDeaconClaybourne

I really enjoyed this - when 'bus boy' first turned up I thought the love triangle thing might be a bit cheesy but it deftly avoided that. I loved how the women's friendship was as central as the romantic ones and how it developed.

I'd like to ask if you've thought about a sequel or if it's best left to the imagination- I'd like to see the girls meeting up again in the future

Hi Mrs DC - I TOTALLY HEAR YOU ON THE DEACON THING. GOD, YES.
Anyway, to answer your question, there isn’t a current plan to go back to these characters again. They’re kind of where I want them to be for now, but I never say never because an idea might suddenly come to me in a few years and I’ll have to go back again and see what they’re all up to.You're right thought, it would be cool to check in on Sarah and Laurie again. I think they'd def still be great friends, and Sarah would probably be running Australia by then!
Also, totally unrelated Nashville comment - how about Gunnar for Jack? He's a Brit, after all!

I seem to have answered that a million times - I promise I haven't been drinking wine!

Thanks for answering my questions Josie. A couple more! Do you have a strict routine for writing (I know some writers get up with the sun and then write for a few hours before breakfast)? And where do you write? Do you have music on or silence?

@BearAusten

I really enjoyed One Day in December. A lovely book for any romantic. I liked how all the relationships within the book change and develop, not just between the central characters of Laurie and Jack. Heartwarming, but it did make me sniffle a bit.

I am looking forward to your next novel, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird.
When is this one going to be available?

Moreover,

• What was the inspiration for the story? Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?

• Why 'bus boy'? Just because of the alliteration?

• Do you believe in destiny?

Hi BearAusten -I’m not even going to apologise for the sniffles, that’s a good thing in my eyes!

The initial idea for the book came from a couple of things. Firstly, I was approached to write a ‘Christmas movie’ style book by an editor i'd previously worked with - Love Actually, The Holiday, those kind of films. So that was a base - to try to make readers feel the way we do when we watch those beloved films. Escapist, romantic, a bit of humour, some heartbreak. Real life, but with an extra sprinkle of movie magic, if you like?
Secondly, I’ve always wanted to write about love at first sight, so it became an opportunity to do that too. Putting the two ideas together formed the beginnings of the book - that love at first sight moment on the bus at Christmas.

Has it ever happened to me? God, No! I do believe in it though - and lots of people who’ve read the book have since messaged me to tell me their own love at first sight stories, so it definitely happens.

Busboy - that took a little settling on. I initially used bus-man but it felt too clunky and grown up for the stage Laurie & Sarah were at in their lives at the time, and Bus Boy sounds more like the flippant kind of thing Sarah would come up with. I wasn’t 100% to begin with, but it went in and stayed there!

Do I believe in destiny? I guess to a small degree, although I think you make your own luck too.

@ireallylovechessenonioncrisps

Really enjoyed the book. Here are my qs (also spoiler alert):

1. Did you have the happy ending in mind from the start? Were you ever tempted to give it a more tragic, messier ending?
2. Do you see Laurie and Jack's relationship lasting in the long-run?
3. Why did you decide to set it over 10 years?

Thanks!

Hi IRLCNOC! :)
I wasn’t, really, but I agree It could have gone a few ways. I have to confess that when Laurie first met Oscar on the beach in Thailand I fell a little bit in love with him when he called her starfish - I certainly wavered! I had a pretty good idea where everyone would be by the end, but not their paths to get there. Jack in particular had a more difficult time than I first thought, he wandered a long way off piste. That's they kind of guy he is though - unpredictable.
I like to think Laurie & Jack would stay the distance. They worked hard for their love, I think they're grown up enough by the end to cherish it.