A Slice of Cake With Carol Cooper

Today I am delighted to have a slice of cake with author Carol Cooper.

Carol was walking on Hampstead Heath when she had the ambition of becoming a novelist. As she was training to be a doctor at the time, it was a while before she came close to fulfilling that dream.

Born in London, Carol was a few months old when her cosmopolitan family took her to live in Egypt. She returned to the UK at eighteen to go to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she studied medicine.

Her writing career developed alongside general practice and teaching medical students. She has written columns for leading newspapers and magazines, and has a string of health and parenting books to her name, including an award-winning textbook.

Her first two novels are contemporary tales set in London. A firm believer in writing what you know, she mined the rich material of her childhood for her third novel, The Girls from Alexandria.

Carol has three grown-up sons and three adult stepchildren. She lives with her husband, sharing her time between North London and Cambridge, where she is a Fellow at Newnham College. Another novel is on the way.

What kind of books do you write?

My novels all feature multicultural characters and have a medical strand. I started by writing contemporary fiction, but I also like to delve into the past, especially the mid twentieth century. 

Can you describe your writing why?

My mother was a writer so I had a wonderful role model right there. I’ve always written, starting with articles and music reviews as a student. Soon I felt the urge to write something a bit less ephemeral.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

I enjoy writing so much that it’s hard to choose just one section. This is from the first page of The Girls from Alexandria. 

From my hospital bed, I see right into the corridor. There goes the man in a beanie hat thing again, as he does several times a day. To the prayer room, I guess. The name for his hat won’t come for the moment. No surprise. I’ve begun to struggle with even simple words. The man keeps adjusting that hat as he strides down the corridor. Must know exactly where he’s headed. Lucky him. The other day, I found myself at the butcher’s when I’d meant to collect a book from the library.

A taqiyah. There’s the word for his hat. 

There’s no muezzin in British hospitals, but the man must heed an internal clock, just as a mechanism within my head reproduces the crash of the waves against the rocks, next door’s cockerel, a stray dog barking, the hooves of an exhausted donkey labouring up the hill, impatient klaxons at the crossroads, the fruity voice of Um Kalthoum on the radio, the penetrating call of the roba bikya man as he trawls the neighbourhood for junk, the tram that hurtles from one gloriously named station to the next, shifting its heavy human cargo through Chatby, Camp Caesar, Ibrahimeyya, Cleopatra, Sporting, Sidi Gaber, Roushdy, Glymenopoulo, and San Stefano, and, through it all, Rashida’s shrill demand for someone to bring her a knife that was both sharp and clean for a change. 

Tell us about your latest project

The Girls from Alexandria is about Nadia and her family. Originally from Egypt, Nadia is now 70 and living alone in London. Her brain is failing and her doctors don’t know why. Unless her sister is found, Nadia will end up in a care home. But Nadia’s sister disappeared from the family home in Alexandria 50 years ago and hasn’t resurfaced since, unless you count a few cryptic postcards. 

Now stuck in hospital, all Nadia can do is look again at those old postcards and delve into her own memories of long ago in Alexandria. Perhaps there’ll be something she missed at the time that will lead her to her sister.

The book is something of a love letter to the cosmopolitan Alexandria that no longer exists. Part historical fiction, part contemporary mystery, it’s a story of family, identity, and loss.

What is your favourite cake?

May I have a chocolate layer cake please? 

You can connect with Carol here:

Website: drcarolcooper.com 

Facebook: Carol Cooper’s novels 

Instagram: @drcarolcooper

Twitter: @DrCarolCooper

Amazon author page: Carol Cooper on Amazon

Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with Astrid Johnsson. 

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. Never miss out on future posts by following me.