Satsumas vs Tangerines – Chrissie Manby talks Christmas fruit…

The 3 books I’d give as Christmas gifts… 

The book I’ve most often given as a gift is Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life. It’s wonderful. Every writer should own a copy. Lamott covers everything from ‘shitty first drafts’ to the curse of professional envy with her trademark wit and warmth. When I’m feeling unhappy about my work, I can always rely on Anne Lamott to give me a little boost. You can open her book at any page and find a perfect pearl of wisdom. Writing guides are often patronising or pretentious but reading Bird By Bird is like having your best friend sitting at your kitchen table giving you her perfectly considered advice.

As a child, I loved Tove Jansson’s Moomin books. They are so imaginative and magical. The population of Jansson’s Moominvalley is full of wonderful eccentrics but my favourite Jansson character is Little My. How to describe her? To my mind, she’s eternally six or seven. She wears a red dress and a high bun on her head. She’s always drawn with a determined look on her face and she’s often giving someone or something the ‘side eye’. She’s wicked but kind. I love her. Moominvalley Midwinter, in which Moomintroll, who should be hibernating, wakes up early and finds his world covered in snow, is the perfect Christmas book.

One of the best novels I’ve read this year is Lucy Dillon’s One Small Act Of Kindness in which the life of Libby Corcoran, who left London to run her husband’s family hotel, is turned upside down when she helps a mysterious woman injured in a car crash. Lucy Dillon creates heroines you wish you knew for real and her books always give a considered and nuanced take on life’s dilemmas. All the women in my family are big Lucy Dillon fans so I know I won’t go wrong if I give them her latest for Christmas.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without…

Satsumas! They are the fruit of Christmas. Tangerines are absolutely NOT the same. When I was growing up, we had a dog called Ben who was very partial to satsumas. However, like me, he hated the bitter soapy smell of tangerine rind so if you were offering him one of those instead, you had to peel the fruit, then wash your hands, and then hand him the carefully skinned segments. Satsuma rind smells so much better. I don’t know why.

What I’m hoping to find under the tree this year…

Every single year for the last forty years or so I’ve wished for a puppy. I love dogs. I’ve never met one I didn’t like. My dream puppy would not be a pedigree though. There are too many animals out there already who need a home to justify puppy farming so I’d like a mutt straight from Battersea, please. Unfortunately my lifestyle won’t really allow for that right now so I’ll have to wish for a pair of absolutely-not-suitable-for-dog-walking Louboutins instead. And world peace, of course.

Chrissie Manby’s new novel, A WEDDING AT CHRISTMAS, is out now – just £1.99 on ebook.