The interview before last on my podcast Book Ends was with Stella Newman, author of Pear Shaped. Pear Shaped was one of my favourite discoveries of this year, thanks to my friend Lisa, and I was utterly thrilled to meet Stella and talk to her about what inspired her novel which strikes an interesting balance between decadent romance and darker, less fluffy subjects like depression and low self esteem that sometimes arise from unhealthy relationships.
Pear Shaped is a tale that will make you laugh, probably make you hungry as it is filled with so many delicious descriptions of food (!), but it might also make you wince with recognition too if you’ve ever had your heart broken by someone who, in hindsight, really wasn’t worth it.
At first Sophie, the protagonist, thinks heartbreak can be fixed with an M&S Belgian chocolate pudding but eventually she realises that the endless pursuit of physical perfection can be very damaging and that being happy in our own skin, rather than feeling obliged to live up to the expectations and desires of others, is definitely the way to go.
Described as achingly funny, searingly honest, sharp and sweet….Pear Shaped is very much like the author herself. And not only is the novel compulsive reading – I read it in one afternoon – but it’s also a bit of a foodie’s guide to London (and New York too) in disguise. I blame this book entirely for introducing me to Compost Cookies.
So today we have 3 x signed copies of Pear Shaped to give away for UK readers
and
3 x copies of the German translation, Süße Teilchen, to give away for readers in Germany!
For your chance to win this prize, please leave a comment on this post with your name, whether you would like the English or German version, and a way of contacting you if you don't have a blog/Google account so you can be notified if you win. Bitte schreiben Sie auf Deutsch, wenn Sie mögen, kann ich es verstehen!
For extra entries you can do one, several or all of the following:
- Follow me on Twitter (@philippa_moore)
- Follow Stella Newman on Twitter (@stellanewman)
- Like SLSB on Facebook
- Like Stella Newman's Author Page on Facebook
Entries close midnight, 12th December 2012 (UK time). Winner will be drawn at random and notified on 13th December 2012.
Please note this give-away is for UK and Germany only.
Good luck and stay tuned for the next SLSB 12 Days of Christmas give-away xx
Remember, all the give-aways close on December 12, so you can still enter all of the other competitions as well if you haven't already :)