Love, Lies and Lemon Cake
Love, Lies and Lemon Cake is a story about a woman in her forties who decides to take back her life before it’s too late. It’s a book I think many women will relate to because the story involves wave-crashing passion, parental love, regret, guilt and all those other things us women bundle up into a bag and carry around with us. Oh and most importantly - it also contains lemon cake...
Please tell us about the character of Faye Dobson.
Faye is kind, intelligent, funny and a total dreamer. She wants to ride a Vespa through Italy, make a wish at the Trevi Fountain and have sex under the stars – but her husband’s passion for plumbing means he can only get excited over stopcocks and flanges. She’s known for some time that the nearest she’ll get to Rome is a takeaway pizza, but does she have the courage to do anything about it?
Why lemon cake? Is this one of your specialties?
In my first book, ‘Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes’ one of the chapter headings was Love, Lies and Lemon Cake. I loved it as a title and the ideas around those three elements have been in the mixing bowl in my head in the three years since I wrote it. This novel brings them all together – and yes I do bake a mean lemon cake, and so does Dan, the hunky hero of the book.
How can you so swiftly switch from being heart-breaking to hilarious in your books?
I think it’s a fine line and you have to be careful as a writer to tread carefully between the heartbreak and hilarity. I tend to see humour and ridiculousness in the saddest moments, this comes through in my writing and I can’t help but juxtapose the two. Having said that I often slip off that tightrope but I have now worked with two brilliant editors who know when it doesn’t work and help me keep my balance.
If you were to compare yourself to any author who would it be?
I find that very difficult because I don’t read too much of the genre I write in. I tend to read thrillers and books with much darker themes because I love twists and psychological thrillers. I also don’t read romantic comedy because I don’t want to be influenced – and if I read some of the brilliant stuff out there I’ll compare myself and feel extremely rubbish!
Your book has been praised for being ‘bloody hilarious’ so is humour something that comes naturally to you in your everyday life or just in your books?
Yes it does. I originally wanted to write psychological thrillers but the comedy just comes tumbling out and I can’t help see the funny side of a situation in life and in writing. This may or may not work with taut, nail-biting crime/serial killer type writing... but who knows? I may give it a go one day.
To what extent do you think that every woman has a ‘take back your life’ moment?
I think all women whatever your life story is – have a list of things they would like to do or regret not doing. In the book Faye has a ‘living list’ of things she’s always wanted to do in life – and when she realises she’s only done two – get married and have a baby, that spurs her on to do the rest. And Love, Lies and Lemon Cake seems to have inspired so many of my readers to do the same. It has started quite a storm on Twitter with #lemoncakelivinglist and readers are tweeting me with their amazing plans to do something they’ve always wanted to do which is just brilliant, inspiring and very exciting! It makes me feel quite emotional to think my writing has had this effect and I just wish I could be there holding their hands and urging them on as they take that first step. So to all those ‘Fayes’ out there - you may have your list of hopes and dreams on excel sheets or have just been storing them in your head for years – but the message in the book is – what are you waiting for? It’s never too late to take back your life - START TICKING THEM OFF NOW!
What is next for you?
I have a three book deal with my publisher Bookouture, and I’m currently writing my next book. It’s about two very different sisters, who have to overcome their differences when their lives begin to unravel. I hope it will be sad and funny – but most of all, relatable.