Joan Bassington-French & Christmas at the Tittletons

Hello Dear Readers! 

Today I am delighted to introduce to you Joan Bassinton-French, authoress of Christmas mystery that has been on my WISH LIST ever since it came out! So I am super excited that one of you wonderful lovelies will get a chance to win this book! So excited!! Make sure you follow her blog Hidden Orchards and stay tuned to all of her writing!

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What do you love about writing?

~ I think the best part of writing is how your characters carry the story along once they’re developed enough.  I cease to be the writer and take on the job of recorder.  It’s really neat how that works.

Who is your favorite book couple ever?

~ My favorite book couple is probably Tom and Polly in An Old Fashioned Girl.

What is your favorite “first meeting” between a story couple?

~ My favorite would be the meeting between Gavin and Babbie in The Little Minister.  It’s funny because, Gavin, the minister, is horrified by Babbie, the gypsy girl, who completely ignores him on their first meeting even though he is used to being revered.

What couple did you ship, only to be disappointed? 

~ I never “shipped” Mr. Jarndyce and Esther in Bleak House, but I always feel sorry for Mr. Jarndyce in the end.

What couple ended up together, but you wish they hadn’t? 

~ Richard and Ada in Bleak House

What confession/ proposal or wedding touched your heart? 

~ I wouldn’t say that it necessarily touched my heart, but Valancy’s proposal to Barney in The Blue Castle certainly made me laugh.

On a different kind of love, what is your favorite bro-mance or sisterhood in a novel? 

~ I like the friendship between Emily and Ilse in the Emily of New Moon books.

What book really illustrates the love of God for us in a way that caught your attention?

~ The Hiding Place

What is your favorite form of love to write into your own books? 

~ I love to write about the love in families.  Maybe because I have four brothers I especially like to put brother-sister relationships in my stories.

Do you have a favorite couple of those you’ve written? Why?

~ My favorite couple is Lord Joseph and Lady Loira Loretto in The Peasants of Niminwell.  Even though they’re secondary characters, I love the way they have so much fun together trying to matchmake all the eligible bachelors of their city.

Was there ever a couple in your stories that you were not planning on ending up together but finally ended up writing in?

~ Yes, Hernagrow and Heron in Alicia were not necessarily going to be married, but their marriage gave me an excuse to leave them out of the story for a while, so I did it.  (They were also secondary characters.)

Do you find it harder or easier to write romantic love or friendship love in your books?

~ I find it harder to write romantic love into my books.  First of all, I’m not as interested in reading about that, so naturally I don’t care about writing it as much.  Secondly, my family and friends are such an important part of my life that this aspect of love creeps into my stories whether I want it to or not.

Do you have a favorite friend pair in your books? 

~ Yes, I love the friendship of Lonny and Cadmio in The Peasants of Niminwell.  They both have points in their character that the other helps to strengthen.

Favorite love story you’ve written?

~ I know that the love story between “villains” should probably not count, but I really enjoy the story of Slograv and Kalai in The Daulots, even though they both end up on the wrong side of things.

What is your definition of love?

~ Love is selflessness, demonstrated in the greatest way by Christ on the cross.  For a more complete definition, see I Corinthians 13.

Author Bio:

Joan Bassington-French is an author from America’s Mid-West who is currently pursuing a degree in English at a Southern university.  She especially loves Dickens and murder mysteries.  Her favorite book of the Bible is Job.  Her favorite pastimes are reading, writing, and cooking, and she prefers rainy days because they are cozier for reading.  If she’s outdoors she prefers to be talking a walk or working in a vegetable garden, but on the whole she’s definitely more of an indoor person.  She’s been told that she was born in the wrong century, but she likes electricity so much that she can’t really credit that statement.