Cherry Pie Island series- Jenny Oliver BLOG TOUR

I am a huge fan of Jenny Oliver and I'm really excited about her latest delicious series, Cherry Pie Island.  Jenny very kindly agreed to do a Q and A with Books with Bunny as part of her blog tour, so let's get down to business!

Are you a baker, and if so have you always baked?  What are your earliest memories of baking?
- My earliest memory of baking is helping with the chocolate cake at Christmas - creaming butter and sugar till my arm hurt! At primary school we had baking on rotation and I always prayed it was my turn. I loved it. We would make little cupcakes and eat them when they were still warm. At secondary school we did Home Ec - I remember making swiss roll and us sneaking into the classroom and eating what we’d made at lunchtime which was totally against the rules! Having to go home and tell your parents you got in trouble for eating swiss roll is so ridiculous. We did learn a lot of the basics of cooking though, and I think it was a really important lesson that I hope doesn’t fall off the curriculum completely.

Have you ever had a baking disaster?

- Oh loads! The one that scarred me for life was in the aforementioned Home Ec lessons. We had to make a flan for an exam - my pastry crumbled, my pie dish was too small, my patisserie creme didn’t set so all the strawberries sunk into it and disappeared without a trace and then my jam glaze congealed into a lump. It was so awful. Not one bit went right. It sat forlornly at the bottom of our fridge for ages when I took it home. Not even my dad would eat it which is saying something.

You write the most beautiful, vivid descriptions of food in your books- don't you find it makes you hungry to write?  Because as a reader my mouth is always watering when I read them!

- Have you seen the film Hook? When they’re hungry they imagine that they’re eating something and savour the taste in their minds. For me, writing about food is a bit like that. I feel like I’ve been living off cherry pie for weeks.

This is the first book in the Cherry Pie Island series, how many do you envisage overall and how long will readers have to wait for the next instalment?

- At the moment there are four in total, but I’m sure I’ll pop back there in the future. They’re coming out one a month so you don’t have long to wait for the next one!

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions Jenny, as always it's a pleasure!

- Thanks for having me! x

 

THE GRAND REOPENING OF THE DANDELION CAFÉ, the first book in the Cherry Pie Island Series, is available now.

Find out more about the Pie Bake Off here.