A Q&A WITH SHARON IBBOTSON
We have to start with the most obvious question: where did the idea of Mrs Claus filing for divorce come from?
LOL. So, my sister is a lawyer and once she took me to a moot court at Sydney University where she was training. The court was arguing a hypothetical case and sixteen-year-old me developed the BIGGEST crush on the student arguing for the prosecution. He was intense and eloquent and I’d always wanted to write him as a hero since. Cut to 2024 and I got a preview visit to the Harrods Christmas Store (thanks to my friend Hayri who manages it), and while having coffee with Hayri later, we started talking about Santa. At one point, without thinking, I said “I have a feeling Santa would be a ‘the divorce came out of nowhere’ kind of man”, and it was like lightning how quickly that plot formulated in my mind. And that’s how The Christmas Clause was born.
Without giving away any spoilers, which Somer and Reuben scene did you have the most fun writing?
It’s a cheat to say I loved them all, right? If I had to narrow it down though, I think the scene where Somer abruptly tries to be sweet and sexy with Reuben as a negotiation tactic was so much fun to write. Because he sees right through the act — of course he does — and even though he’s desperately attracted to her, he has to maintain his disciplined and restrained lawyer persona. A persona he only breaks when they get to the North Pole . . .
If readers could spend one day in your version of the North Pole, what’s the first thing you’d tell them to do?
Stay away from the elves and reindeer. That’s all.
The Christmas Clause isn’t your typical Christmas romance: the reindeer are unpleasant, the elves are parasitic and Santa is having a breakdown.
Of course, there is a Greggs there, so there’s that. But yeah, keep away from all the others.
What’s the strangest thing you found yourself researching while writing The Christmas Clause?
There was a lot, to be honest, because the plot was so out there. I had to buy a biography of Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer on Vinted. I had to research the likely travel speed of Santa’s sleigh. I researched criminal law and Home Alone. I spoke to an actual legal firm about admissible evidence with regards to proof of identity and prenuptial agreements. I finally had to watch Die Hard. The only thing I didn’t have to research was the Greggs Christmas menu, because I’m from Newcastle originally and Greggs is in our blood.
We can’t finish without settling the book’s most important debate: is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
My family actually developed a Venn diagram to answer this question. So there are movies, movies you can watch at Christmas and Christmas movies. We decided that Christmas movies are only those it would be weird to watch at any other time of the year. So, as Die Hard can be watched year-round but has a Christmas setting, it is a movie you can watch at Christmas but not a Christmas movie.