HELLO & WELCOME!
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Susan Buchanan author of The Boulangerie on the Corner.
Hi Susan, thank you for agreeing to this interview.
Who inspired you to become a writer?
To write in the genre I write in now, if anyone, Maeve Binchy, as she wrote such wonderfully warm characters, and her books had such fabulous communities.
What types of scenes are your most favorite to write?
Either those that make me smile or those that make me cry – basically anything that is heartwarming or tugs at the heartstrings and makes me, and thus hopefully the reader, experience significant emotion.
Do you work with an outline, or just write?
I work with an outline. I do deviate from it sometimes, but I use a tool called Plottr. There I add all the characters and their traits and attributes, but I also map out each chapter and each scene, although I do frequently move scenes between chapters to get it right.
What do you do when you are not writing?
If I get a chance, I read. As I’m an editor as well, I am always reading, so I read purely for pleasure when I get a chance, and I play board games with my kids. I also like going to the theatre and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do more of that in 2026.
What are some books you have enjoyed recently?
Funnily enough, I just made a top 10 of the year yesterday. My favorite books last year were The Woman with All the Answers by Linda Green and I loved Lizzie Chantree’s new series set in Windsor – The Windsor Love Pact, The Windsor Love Connection and The Windsor Love Match.
Give us insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
Lia has grit and an inner strength she really didn’t know she had when she started out at the beginning of the story. She’s instrumental in making significant changes to improve others’ lives, and her own, for the better.
How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?
When I was 19, I was studying French and Hispanic Studies at the University of Glasgow. I had to spend a few months residency in France, and I chose Toulouse. Initially, I wasn’t meant to be living with a French family, but the room I was given in someone’s house was so drab and unwelcoming (think mattress on the floor, nothing else in the room and you’re there!) that I asked to be rehomed. I was put with the Molinières family, whom the book is dedicated to (and from that comes the Molins name in the book). They welcomed me and treated me like one of their own kids. Fed me up with pastries and home-cooked French meals. They owned a boulangerie and their home was attached to it. I have thought of them so many times over the past 34 years since I last saw them, and got in touch with them again 2 years ago. Their kindness made such an impression on me that I wanted to set the book around their boulangerie and have Lia use Toulouse and the boulangerie as her happy place. The rest of the story isn’t based around this family, and Lia’s experiences are absolutely not mine, but the warmth the family showed to me, the family dynamics, the boulangerie and the city itself were real. For the two male love interests I did some research on Pinterest! I never use Pinterest! And I made them as different as possible.
Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?
I have so many, but probably one in the gardens they visit, featuring a little bridge.
Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
See two questions ago! The smells of baking bread reaching up to the attic bedroom at 4 a.m., the market, the canal, the boulangerie, the family are all real. The rest is fiction!
If you had to summarize the book for the readers here:
The Boulangerie on the Corner is the story of Lia, who, after being dumped by her boyfriend, losing her job and having to sell her home, decides – on urging from her bestie – to go to Toulouse, the place she was happiest 15 years earlier, staying with the Molins family. What she doesn’t expect is to meet not one but two hot Frenchmen in quick succession. She then helps the family when elderly relatives fall ill and assists with their boulangerie business. Lia has to think about her future and what she really wants and how to get it. It’s a story of romance, found family, friendship and community.
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview.
You’re welcome. It has been a pleasure!
The Boulangerie on the Corner
No home. No job. No boyfriend.
When Lia loses her job straight after a break-up, she escapes to the Molins’ family-run boulangerie in Toulouse – the place she was last happy, far away from her cheating ex.
Sworn off men, she isn’t prepared for the spark she feels for charming cheesemaker Jean-Luc, nor for things heating up at the family’s country home in Gascony when handsome, self-assured vineyard-owner Théo asks her out.
Torn between the two and her connections to the Molins family, Lia has some tough decisions to make.
Lia loves being back in France with the people she cares about, helping in the boulangerie. On discovering it is under threat of closure, she is devastated and resolves to do everything in her power to help it stay open.
Will she succeed? And will she be able to choose between the two handsome Frenchmen and live her happily ever after?
For fans of Gillian Harvey, Rebecca Raisin, Jo Thomas and Veronica Henry.
Susan Buchanan writes contemporary romance, women’s fiction and romantic comedies, usually featuring travel, food, family, friendship, community – also Christmas!
Her books are Sign of the Times, The Dating Game, The Christmas Spirit, Return of the Christmas Spirit, A Little Christmas Spirit, A Taste of Christmas Spirit and Just One Day – Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, The Leap Year Proposal, You Can’t Hurry Love and The Boulangerie on the Corner.
As a freelance developmental editor, copyeditor and proofreader, if she’s not reading, editing or writing, she’s thinking about it.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors.
She lives near Glasgow with her husband, two children and a crazy Labrador.
When she’s not editing, writing, reading or caring for her two delightful cherubs, she likes going to the theatre, playing board games, watching quiz shows and eating out, and she has a penchant for writing retreats.
Facebook * Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Instagram * Threads
Giveaway to Win a signed and dedicated paperback of The Boulangerie on the Corner (Open to UK Only)
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Win a signed and dedicated paperback of The Boulangerie on the Corner (Open to UK Only)
