MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD OBE is one of the most successful novelists of all time. Her latest book, Master of His Fate (Harper Collins), is out on 29 November. In our feature Comfort & Joy (page 86), she recalls the glittering New York Christmas party she hosted for her husband, TV producer Robert Bradford, who’d had a tough and lonely wartime childhood. “I wanted to make up for all the parties he never had as a boy,” she says.

Tania Edwards is a stand-up comedian and writer, who has appeared on TV shows such as Mock the Week and Stand Up for the Week. She recently supported Katherine Ryan on her sell-out tour. Tania’s worst Christmas (page 101) involved a new baby, a house move and the terrifying task of hosting the big day for the first time. She was a woman possessed. “What I didn’t have a grip on were the Christmas basics. I had no idea about the careful planning that makes it all look easy…”

CECELIA AHERN is the bestselling author of PS, I Love You. Published in nearly 50 countries, she has sold over 25 million copies of her novels worldwide. Read her short story The Woman Who Was Swallowed Up by the Floor on page 224, ahead of the release of Roar, a witty and relatable collection of short stories. “They are a walk through my thoughts and imagination, a humorous take on serious issues,” says Cecelia. “I’m bursting to share this body of work with my readers.”