Josie Silver: Writing books is the story of my life

"Everybody loves a good love story”, says the unashamed romantic behind the international best-seller One Day in December.

Described as the novelistic equivalent of Love Actually, the story about love at first sight has proven a runaway success, warming the hearts of readers across the globe.

The e-book, realised at the end of August, has spent weeks in the number one spot in the Amazon charts and with rights for the book, published by Penguin in paperback last month, have been sold in 26 countries.

“It’s really snowballed unexpectedly and captured people’s imagination. I’ve been blown away by the response. There have been 600 reviews on Amazon and it’s been really positive. There has also been some film interest ,” says Wolverhampton author Jo Pigworth who writes as Josie Silver.

It tells the story of Laurie, who is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist until, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man she knows instantly is ‘the one’. Their eyes meet but then her bus drives away.

Laurie thinks she will never see him again but at their Christmas party a year later, her best friend Sarah introduces her to the new love of her life who is, of course, the boy from the bus.

Determined to let him go, Laurie gets on with her life but soon discovers that fate might have other plans for the star-crossed pair.

“I had always wanted to write about love at first sight. It opens with a missed opportunity and then across a decade we see what happens to them and how it all plays out,” she says.

Although it’s Josie Silver’s debut novel, it’s actually the 13th book for mum-of-two Jo, who lives in Tettenhall Wood and previously worked in human resources.

She’s been writing for 10 years and you might recognise her from her other pseudonym, Kat French, who’s known for romantic comedies such as The Bed and Breakfast on the Beach and One Hot Summer with publisher Harper Collins.

Her career began when she entered the annual Mills & Boon writing competition in 2009 and came second. The prize was to work with an editor for 12 months to help develop her idea into a book.

“Working with an editor really helped me and although they didn’t take me on, I learned a lot during that time and I’ve never looked back,” explains Jo. She later got a publishing deal after posting a partial manuscript for her first novel Undertaking Love on to the Harper Collins Authonomy website after reading about Dudley author Miranda Dickinson’s success through there.

Jo has since published romantic comedies as Kat French and also erotic romance as her USA Today best-selling naughtier alter-ego Kitty French.

But she came close to giving up writing altogether last year after fearing it ‘wasn’t going anywhere’.

Then, out of the blue Jo was offered the opportunity to try going in a different direction with her story-telling by Penguin editor Katy Loftus and she jumped at the chance.

“I had written 12 books but it wasn’t really gathering pace. Then I got the call from Penguin. Katy had moved to Penguin from HarperCollins, which is where I knew her from. She rang me up to see if I would be interested in writing a Christmas book.

“We talked about Christmas films such as Love Actually and The Holiday. We wanted to write a book that made people feel like they do when they watch these films – that feel good Christmas spirit,” she says.

The story came together quite quickly over four months but publication was deliberately delayed so it could hit the shelves in the run up to the festive season.

And it seems it was the correct decision with copies of the novel flying off the shelves and the e-book reaching the top spot on the Amazon chart.

“There are usually thrillers and dark stories at the top of the chart so it’s nice that a romance story captured people’s imagination. It’s really heartening.

“It’s escapism for people and I think they like the Christmas spirit.

“It’s been a joy to write and a joy to work with Penguin. I feel very lucky to be working with Katy. She’s as much a friend as she is my editor. It’s renewed my faith in writing,” says Jo.

One of the highlights of the book’s success is receiving the international paperback versions and getting to see the different front covers.

“I love seeing how they’ve interpreted it as all the covers are different, especially the Italian one which is wonderful,” explains Jo, who says it would be a dream come true to see her story transformed for the big screen.

The 46-year-old, whose favourite authors include Marian Keyes, Jennifer Crusie and Jilly Cooper, is already working on her next book for Penguin which is titled The Two Lives of Lydia Bird which is due to be released next autumn.

It’s about a bereaved woman who miraculously gets the chance to live two lives – one where her husband is alive again, the other where she’s starting to fall in love with someone new.

Describing her writing, editor Katy says: “Her novels speak to the innocent, hopeful part of us all, yet she writes without cliché or sentimentality.

“Her characters connect with readers in a unique and wonderful way that really does feel like some kind of magic.”

To help her with her writing Jo keeps an ideas book and jots down things that might might use or develop later. “It might be something on the news or music – anything can spark an idea really. My friends and family always think they can see themselves in my books.

“There are things that they do or say that I might include but it’s usually well disguised so they don’t realise,” she tells Weekend.

Jo can’t think of anything she would rather be doing than writing. “It’s the best job in the world. I love it and I feel really blessed that I’m able to do it. I want to continue writing for as long as I can.”

See www.josiesilver.com or follow her on Twitter @JosieSilver_