Rosemary Whittaker

Books & Company - International Book Cafe
17 March
Book of the Week (in this case an interview by Lara Miller/

The Cinnamon Snail by Rosemary Whittaker

Without giving too much away, what is The Cinnamon Snail about?

The Cinnamon Snail is one of a set of four books with an expat theme. I took the concept in each case of a young British woman who is forced to leave the UK, for one of the four countries in which I have lived, for extended periods of time. They all leave for different reasons and their moves all have very different outcomes. The four expat books are light women’s fiction. A beach read.

What inspired you to write The Cinnamon Snail?

Initially because new writers are always told to ‘write what you know.’ And the thing I know very well is moving a family around the world very frequently and at little or no notice.

Is The Cinnamon Snail based on your life or someone you know?

Absolutely not. I was speaking at another book club last year and one reader was not quite able to believe the sort of impulsive behaviour that would send a young woman hurtling off abroad in search of another life. Three others all said sheepishly they had done exactly that at the same age. Clearly it isn’t that uncommon at twenty-five.

How did you come up with the title?

The Cinnamon Snail is the name of the cafe where the main character finds a job. That cafe is actually the wonderful Jorden Rundt by Charlottenlund fort. The cafe is round and fat and very hyggeligt (cosy). Not unlike a cinnamon snail pastry.

Did you learn anything from writing The Cinnamon Snail?

That sometimes speed beats over-thinking things. You can always go back and rewrite but don’t spend seven hours on an elaborate piece of prose that you think is wonderful. It almost never is.

What do you enjoy most about writing? What are the challenges?

I love it when you get into ‘The Zone’ and wake up three hours later to find you have two new chapters, no dinner in the oven and children waiting patiently for you at school.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Right before anything I ever write.

Do you write an outline before each book you write?

Never. I genuinely have no idea how my books will end until close to the finish.

Who is your favourite author?

I can never choose just one. I am a great John le Carre fan. I love Monica Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Iris Murdoch, Dorothy L Sayers, Ray Bradbury, Jane Austen, The Brontes, Dickens, Henry James, and Laurie R King. Anyone and everyone really.

What is your favourite book?

I don’t know how to answer ‘favourite’ as it might change next week or according to my current situation. However, Iris Murdoch’s The Bell is a book I read constantly. I keep applying it to different situations I find myself in and that has to be the mark of a great book.

Are you currently writing another book?

Yes. It’s still women’s fiction but a bit more intricate and aims to look at people’s psychology a little more than the first four lighter books. It is the story of a woman in her thirties whose grandmother dies, but not before sending her a gift. The woman has no idea who gave it to her grandmother or where. After some research, she sets off through Europe to find out why her grandmother took that same journey fifty plus years ago and who originally gave her the gift and why.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

I like the quote from the film ‘Wonder Boys.’ Michael Douglas plays a Professor teaching a creative writing course.

“Nobody teaches a writer anything. You tell them what you know. You tell them to find their voice and stay with it. You tell the ones that have it to keep at it. You tell the ones that don't have it to keep at it too... because that's the only way they're gonna get to where they're going.“

Words to live by!