Written by Stephanie Dagg⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Today, I'm reviewing Anna Partridge in a Pear Tree by Stephanie Dagg, and you'll see from other reviews I've done of her work, that I am a confirmed fan of her writing.
Stephanie has also kindly answered a few questions for my feature Interview with the Author.
I read this book as part of this year's #20BooksOfSummer challenge, in a bid to reduce my ever increasing To Be Read pile.
Stephanie has also kindly answered a few questions for my feature Interview with the Author.
I read this book as part of this year's #20BooksOfSummer challenge, in a bid to reduce my ever increasing To Be Read pile.
The blurb:
She’ll be there for a fortnight over Christmas.
It’s all rather quiet and unexciting until, on Boxing Day, a pheasant gets tangled in the pear tree in the garden.
Anna can’t possibly leave it there but her rescue attempt goes wrong, leaving her the stuck one.
All she can do is wait for a knight in shining armour, or at least a passing Frenchman in posh wellies…
Short Stories
Holiday Fiction
Humour
My thoughts:
Having previously read Two Myrtle Doves, I was very much looking forward to reading this story, and finding out the titles of the next 10 books in this series - No pressure Ms Dagg!In this story we meet Anna Partridge, a young single British woman who has arrived in France to house-sit while the owners are away for the Christmas holidays.
The house is not what she is used to at home. She can't figure out how to make the heating work properly, so the house is not very warm. The house is quite isolated and blanketed in snow.
On Boxing Day - the first day of Christmas - she hears a gunshot and shortly after sees a large game bird has fallen into the pear tree at the front of the house, from which it is struggling to escape. She sets about rescuing the bird, a pheasant, but ends up stuck in the tree for her trouble!
Luckily, before she freezes to death or falls from the tree, a young, smartly dressed Frenchman appears and stops to help her.
Once back on terra firma, we learn that the pair share common interests and are getting on quite well together. It seemed to me that this chance meeting could lead to romance in the near future.
I thought this was a lovely, entertaining story, full of comedic moments and sarky comments. I loved that Anna was having an imaginary conversation with the pheasant whilst trying to effect its rescue. The pheasant is quite disdainful of her efforts, and shows no gratitude when she does manage finally to free him. There is a turn of events at the end of the story which I was not expecting. It left me wondering whether there might be trouble ahead for Anna and her rescuer.
Another brilliant short story by Dagg, and I look forward to reading more in this series soon.
Thank you, Stephanie, for taking the time to join me today, and answering a few questions for us. We wish you well with all your projects, and hope to see them in print soon, especially the ones in the 'The Twelve Wordplays of Christmas'.
Q1. What inspired you to write ‘Anna Partridge in a Pear Tree’ and ‘Two Myrtle Doves’ and are they part of a series?
I love Christmas and enjoy writing festive stories, so thought I’d try and come up with some sort of reflection on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Deciding to go for a bit of wit and fun with language, I decided on ‘The Twelve Wordplays of Christmas’. These are the first two stories in the series. I hope to get at least the third, fourth and fifth stories written by this Christmas to add to the existing two.Q2. Who are your favourite characters in ‘Anna Partridge in a Pear Tree’ and ‘Two Myrtle Doves’ and why?
The two heroines, Anna Partridge and Myrtle Dove, because they’re both rather lovely! They’re very different in that Anna is very confident and outgoing whilst Myrtle is rather reserved, but they’re equally good at handling the strange situations they find themselves in: Anna stuck in a pear tree, and Myrtle finding herself accused of identity fraud by a little old lady.Q3. Do you have other novels planned or in progress?
I have a lot of works in progress. I’m not a very organised writer, and whilst I can discipline myself to write regularly, I do tend to flit from project to project instead of getting my head down and finishing one, then another. I’m halfway through the sequel to ‘Haircuts, Hens and Homicide’ and a few chapters into the sequel to ‘Hate Bale’. Both WiPs are cosy mysteries, a genre I love writing. I’m also making notes for my next non-fiction book, and I have a couple of other books on the go, one a romcom and the other, well, I’m not quite sure what direction it’s going to in just yet!Q4. Who is your favourite author?
I admire so many, most of them indie authors, it’s impossible to pin it down to just one. How evasive is that! But that said, three outstanding books I’ve read recently are ‘Orchard View’ by Deborah J Miles, ‘Overture’ by Vanessa Couchman and ‘Playing Out’ by Paul Douglas Lovell.Q5. What do you like to do when you’re not planning or writing your next book?
I have a large (75 acres!) smallholding with carp lakes, so looking after that lot and running the fishing business takes a lot of time. Other than that I do a lot of cycling and geocaching with my husband and whichever children are at home at the time, and sewing and knitting on my own whilst listening to audiobooks. Heaven!Q6. What do you like most about being an author?
The writing! All the other things about being an author, such as formatting ebooks, promotion and so on, and the frustration at not selling more copies are much less fun!Q7. Do you have a specific routine for writing? Is there a special place or particular tool you use?
I try and write first thing every morning, which is from around 6.00 or 6.30 for an hour. I sit at the kitchen table, usually with a cat on my lap and a dog either on or under my feet. I use my Acer laptop.Q8. If your books were to be made into an Audiobook, and you could choose anyone to read them, who would you choose and why?
Were he not retired, I’d choose Gabriel Woolf. He used to read many stories on various programmes on Radio 4 and he has the most beautiful, rich voice.Q9. If your book were to be made into a movie, who would you like to play Anna Partridge?
Oh gosh, I’m not very clued up about young actors and actresses. So can we go back in time so I could choose a young Emma Thompson?| Author Bio – Stephanie Dagg |
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 I'm an English expat living in France, having moved here with my family in 2006 after fourteen years as an expat in Ireland. Taking on seventy-five acres with three lakes, two hovels and one cathedral-sized barn, not to mention an ever increasing menagerie of animals, has made for exciting times. The current array of creatures ranges from alpacas to zebra finches, with pretty much everything in-between! Before we came to France all we had was a dog and two chickens, so it's been a steep learning curve. I'm married to Chris and we have three bilingual TCKs (third culture kids) who are resilient and resourceful and generally wonderful. I'm a traditionally-published author of many children's books, and am now self-publishing too. As well as being an author, I’m also a part-time editor and, with Chris, manager of three carp fishing lakes. My hobbies are cycling, geocaching, knitting and sewing. |
| Social Media Links – | |
| Web Site | www.bloginfrance.com |
| Goodreads | https://www.goodreads.com/booksarecool23 |
| Facebook Author Page | www.facebook.com/StephanieDaggBooks/ |
| X | https://twitter.com/llamamum |
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