Nicola Knight, who is the communications lead at Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Norfolk, has her first novel out next week. Here, she shares the personal reasons which led her to writing The Night Before Christmas
Can you remind readers who you are and what you do?
Sure thing, my name is Nicola, I’m based in Harleston, South Norfolk, and I am the comms lead at Redwings Horse Sanctuary, wife to Daniel, mum to a beautiful little girl. And – I can hardly believe I’m saying this – a very-soon-to-be-published author.
We last featured you and your contribution to Will You Read This, Please? book in February 2023 – how has both the day job and writing journey been for you since then?
The day job is full on, but I love it! This year Redwings celebrates its Ruby anniversary, so we’ve had a year packed full of extra events to mark the occasion, the highlight for me being our first-ever Book Festival. There’s something about people who love animals also loving books for some reason, and we sold out in just two weeks! We had some amazing authors there like Elly Griffiths and Suzie Fletcher from The Repair Shop and as you can imagine I was completely in my element.
However, it has been a difficult year for charities with everything that’s going on and our teams have been working so hard to keep on helping the horses who still so desperately need us. We’ve recently rescued a little orphaned foal who we have named Ruby, she really brings home why we do what we do every day, and I love going to visit her and her foster mum when I’m at the office.
As for the writing, it’s been a complete whirlwind! It was amazing to see ‘Will You Read This Please?’ in print for all kinds of reasons. Working with Harper Collins was a great opportunity to see behind the scenes of the publishing process, and I’ve made some wonderful people along the way, not least the astoundingly talented author Jenn Ashworth who co-wrote my chapter over Zoom calls during lockdown. Earlier this year we had a chance to meet in person and she was every bit as lovely as I knew she would be!
But the absolute best thing about the whole process has been the feedback I’ve received from readers who either had their own mental health struggles after childbirth or found something in the story that resonated. Even within my circle of friends I’ve had people come forward to tell me how much they appreciated me sharing the story of my experience with postpartum psychosis, or that they had no idea what I went through and how glad they are that I shared it. That means so much to me and I’m so glad it’s been helpful for people.
This year for the launch of the paperback version I was invited to the South Bank Centre to talk about my experiences alongside several of the authors from the book who wrote the other chapters, and that was surreal to say the least!
What has led you to writing your debut novel, The Night Before Christmas and what is it about?
A very long story short, I went to therapy as part of my recovery and around 2021 my therapist asked me what I had in my life that was just for me. I couldn’t think of anything. Genuinely. Nothing. Nothing that didn’t involve work or volunteering or parenting or something else that resembled work in some form. Somewhere along the way I had lost sight of myself. He asked me what I had always loved doing and I said, ‘reading and writing.’ And then, almost sheepishly, I admitted I’ve always wanted to write a novel. ‘What’s stopping you?’ he said, and I didn’t have a decent answer for him!
Not long after that I saw a competition with Penguin Michael Joseph where you could win a publishing contract. All you had to do (ha ha) was write the first thousand words of a Christmas Love Story, and send it in. I decided I had nothing to lose – how hard could it be, right? But the downside was I had only spotted the advert the day before the deadline. So there and then I sat and wrote my 1000 words that very night. I sent it in and thought no more about it, I honestly thought I had no chance. Until I was contacted to say I’d made it through to the next round. Whereupon I nearly fell off my chair.
I had to write another extract and a synopsis, which I did, and I progressed through one more stage which was just the encouragement I needed. I didn’t win or anything, but I met a group of people who had also got as far as I had, and they all had proper ‘Author’ Facebook pages and I started to realise this was quite a big deal. By then I had a decent chunk of a novel and I decided for the first time in my life I was going to go on and finish the damn thing even if it never went any further.
I did finish it, and I won’t lie, it was tough to find the time, but I also found that I loved it. It was something that spoke to my soul. It made me happy, and I do think it’s helped with my healing. I still can’t believe it’s going to be in print, that really is the cherry on the cake!
It’s the story of a girl called Felicity Brooks who hates Christmas. She works in an animal rescue centre and that’s when she’s hiding on Christmas Eve when a man dressed as a giant penguin turns up on the doorstep with a poorly kitten in his hands.
As Felicity and Penguin Man (aka James) work together to nurse the sick feline back to health, it gives them the perfect excuse to bond over their mutual dislike of all things festive. And soon, sparks fly.
But their attraction is interrupted when Felicity’s ex-boyfriend Adam returns to declare his undying love.
And when she is let down by both men, Felicity decides to return to her childhood home for some peace. While there, she uncovers an array of family secrets, and even more about herself, which may just help her to make a choice between Adam and James.
Can the ex outwit the penguin and win Felicity’s heart this Christmas?
Who is it aimed at?
Anyone who loves Christmas. And probably also anyone who has a love-hate relationship with it! If you love rescued kittens or penguins (yes, I did say penguins) or handsome men or a bit of comedy with your romance then I hope you might find something to enjoy in there too – and of course anybody who loves the movie Die Hard, I won’t spoil it by explaining why!
How can people pre-order a copy and when is it out?
They can pre-order a copy of the eBook right now using this link! I’d be so grateful and please do leave me a review on Amazon or Goodreads if you can, it all helps! The paperback is published on September 24th and the audiobook will be out on 8th November.
Are you working on another book?
Aha! The elusive second book, notoriously difficult to write or so they say except I’ve had the opposite problem. Once I started writing I found I couldn’t stop, it’s like an addiction now, and I’m so thankful to my family for putting up with me tapping away on the laptop at all hours!
Consequently I have already written a few other things including a summer romance based at Wimbledon… I’m obsessed with tennis so that one was a joy to work on and that’s in the final drafting stages now. They say write what you know and all that! And you never know, there may be another Christmas-themed something in the pipeline too… who doesn’t love a Christmas love story after all?
The Night Before Christmas, by Nicola Knight is published on September 24, 2024. Visit amazon.co.uk.
Featured images – supplied
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