Q&A with Poppy Alexander

  

 

 

Poppy Alexander is the author of the new novel How to Find a Romance in a Bookshop. Her other novels include The Battle of the Bookshops. She also writes under the name Rosie Howard, and she lives in West Sussex, UK. 

 

Q: Why did you return to the village of Portneath, and specifically Capelthorne’s Bookshop, in your new novel?

 

A: How could I not? When I created Capelthorne’s for my previous novel, The Battle of the Bookshops, I poured my heart into creating the best bookshop in the entire world (in a world where I am in charge, that is!). The result was just too good not to use again.

 

Also, I adore returning in my head to the world of Portneath, the small-town seaside Devonshire location with its cast of characters, beautiful countryside, stunning beaches, good food, and covetable homes so – when Petra and Ross’s story starting being created in my mind, Capelthorne’s was the only place I could visualise them being.

 

Q: How did you create your characters Petra and Ross?

 

A: In my professional life, I have met a lot of Petras. There are so many really clever, hard-working young women in publishing, and it can be a hard taskmaster as an industry. I wanted to honour all of those women by creating Petra’s character.

 

I also hope her journey will encourage some of those young women to believe in their ability to bounce back when things don’t go as planned.

 

I didn’t work in publishing, but when I was younger, I was trying so hard to succeed at work, and worrying constantly about the prospect of doing something wrong and “ruining my life,” which is definitely how I would have seen it at the time.

 

I want to show all those women how important it is to have resilience and self-belief. To have those things you have got to have good people in your life, which also means not spending every waking hour working!

 

As for Ross – well – creative people can be fragile, and I should know because I am married to one.

 

Most authors’ experience of publishing is not the experience people outside that world would recognise. It can be a rollercoaster of high and low points, which – if you are defining your worth by your book sales – can be tough.

 

Like Petra, Ross has to learn to get out of his own head occasionally and take a good look around him.

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about stress in the publishing world?

 

A: I adore the publishing industry and feel incredibly lucky to be doing the job I love best in the world. I do feel I am also really privileged that I am mostly allowed to be in my own mind palace for long stretches.

 

Just occasionally, I resurface and engage with the team of people who are turning my work into a form that gets into the hands of readers, which is a phenomenally complex process.

 

I am in awe of the people who work together to make that happen! The passion and love for stories really shines out of everyone I meet in the industry, and absolutely everybody works very hard.

 

It’s a weird industry to be in at the moment though, with readers looking for different experiences. E-book sales are becoming really important and that leaves physical bookstores needing to recalibrate their place in the market, and then there is the role of AI in storytelling (my position: AI has no place in storytelling, and I strongly believe readers will always prefer books written by humans).

 

Change is inevitable, and the doomsters have always been vocal, but I believe publishing will continue to innovate and remain relevant, because humans need stories. That is not going to change.

 

Q: The author Jo Leevers called the book an “enchanting romance that explores the healing power of books and community, which is also sprinkled with insider insights into the publishing world.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Jo is so lovely to say that, and I was glowing because she is such an amazing writer herself. It has always been my experience that authors do a great job of supporting each other, and Jo taking time to read and comment is proof positive of that.

 

As for what she said: I absolutely believe people need books and also that people need people. When I write my stories from inside the Portneath community, I am writing in the belief we all need a perfect world to escape to. Hopefully most of us can count on our romantic partners, our family and our friends to help us celebrate the good times and survive the bad.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I actually have several Poppy Alexander titles coming out over the course of the next year, a whole new series, moving on from Portneath, but still with plenty of heart and escapism.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am so grateful to all my lovely readers for reading and being kind enough to let me know when they have enjoyed my stories.

 

To be in the know, readers are welcome to visit poppyalexander.com and make sure to sign up to my e-newsletter for news, insights, bonus content and giveaways. I confess, I don’t write often, so don’t worry about being bombarded! I am too busy writing new stories for that. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Poppy Alexander.