Former children’s poet laureate Anne Fine has written Let it Snow – an illustrated tale inspired by her experiences up at the Tan Hill Inn for the new Waitrose Christmas advert.
The Barnard Castle writer revealed she had just two weeks to turn round the new story of two families caught in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve.
Ms Fine said: “If I am honest I thought of it as a challenge – the day the phone rang I was bored.
“Because he said the deadline was two weeks, or something ludicrous, I thought ‘well how much of your life can it spoil?’ – so I did it.”
It was a rare foray into commissioned work for Ms Fine who doesn’t normally do work to order.
Illustrator Kerry Hyndman produced the wintry scenes for the work while Ms Fine brought the story together separately.
“It’s always absolutely fascinating to see what an artist makes of what you had in your head,” added Ms Fine.
“It’s particularly interesting in this case because it is most unusual for the illustrator and author not to work together from the start.”
Ms Fine called on her time at the Tan Hill Inn to conjure up the story of two families caught in a blizzard.
“There were people snowed in up there for several days and it’s way up on the landscape,” she added.
“We’d been up there for the first time in years – we got lost twice on the way before we found the pub.”
The paperback, published by David Fickling Books, has be released to coincide with Waitrose’s Christmas TV sales pitch first revealed over the weekend.
It has been received well
by fellow children’s author Michael Morpurgo who lauded it as a “heart-warming Christmas story for every-one”.
Details of the plot, characters and even the broad themes were cloaked in secrecy until last Sunday.
Some of book’s profits will go to The Trussell Trust – a food bank charity.
It was something which appealed to its author.
Ms Fine added: “I’m really pleased it’s going to a food bank charity because if you are broke this must be a difficult time of year seeing adverts of other people spending money – it must really erode the soul.
“There are so many families feeling so straitened at the moment so I was glad for that reason alone.”
The author gave pupils at Green Lane Primary School a special reading of the story on Monday to mark its launch.
It will be available from Waterstones and selected independent book stores.
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