Paula Xiberras
Earlier this week I had a phone call from the lovely Fiona McIntosh, our topic of conversation was Fiona’s new book ‘The Chocolate Tin’. The story centres (pardon the pun) on the chocolate making families of York and the practice of sending chocolate tins to soldiers during the first world war.
Fiona explains that York was the centre of the chocolate making business with Rowntree and Terry being just two of the chocolate manufacturers based there. The chocolatiers were also Quakers which might seem ironic, however Fiona says although these conscientious objectors did not engage in battle they greatly contributed to the war effort by working in hospitals, and driving ambulances. The book also offers some wonderful bite size trivia for instance, Terry of the same named chocolates, we learn, was a chemist turned chocolatier and evolved from producing lozenges, to sugared fruit lollies, through to the famous chocolate orange that appears on shelves annually around Christmas time.
The story o80f one particular chocolate tin has repercussions for the protagonist of the book, Alex a strong minded, intelligent woman that is grappling with a desire for a fulfilling career in the chocolate industry versus her parent’s urgings for her to make a good marriage. Alex manages to combine a marriage of ‘friendship’ rather than true love which garners her the opportunity to work in the chocolate factory. It is through her work, helping prepare the chocolate tins that a simple gesture to make another’s life better leads to Alex finding fufillment in love.
Fiona McIntosh is a prolific author having published 32 books. Of the writing process Fiona tells me that even after 32 novels, writing still throws up some surprises. In ‘The Chocolate Tin’ the character of James joins the action and Fiona says she didn’t at first know James’s role but he gradually unravelled this to her, a story which is pivotal to the book and lends a slight twist and topicality to the novel.
Fiona who puts immaculate research into her novels, is not one for trifles or truffles for that matter but instead enjoys a good hard centre, including the brittle.
It would seem Fiona’s taste is a metaphor for the age old question of duty versus desire, which teaches us that even though those hard and brittle centres might be encased in smooth chocolate they, like life itself, once we have bitten into it, offer us the experience of the hard, bitter and brittle but always the possibility of tasting the sweetness too.
‘The Chocolate Tin’ by Fiona McIntosh is out now published by Penguin Random House.
You can see Fiona on the Tasmanian leg of her book tour in Hobart for an ‘An Afternoon of Chocolate’ on Sunday 20th at 2pm. Bookings via Dymocks Hobart 03 6231 6656.
