January 2026:
In which I catch up.
Hi lovely,
It’s been a minute since I’ve sent out one of these, but it is wonderful to be in front of you again. The last few months of last year saw me burnt out, bruised, exhausted but exhilarated as Until the Red Leaves Fall found an audience. I hope some of you got Emmy for Christmas - or even a copy of At the Foot of the Cherry Tree in your stocking!
I had my first proper holiday since before Covid this month, which accounts for why I’ve more energy on this side of the New Year. I spent a week and a half in the South Island of Aotearoa on a family holiday to celebrate my mother’s significant birthday (even though it’s not her birthday until March). While it was noisy and chaotic (it can’t not be when you’re on holiday with four kids under four), it was such a strong break in my routine that it forced me to be really present and in the moment.
I came home to the news that Dymocks have officially opened their voting for their Top 101 for 2026. I love this poll every year because you can vote for your ten favourite books of any time period. At the Foot of the Cherry Tree has been there for the last two years in a row! I would absolutely love it if you could put a vote in for At the Foot of the Cherry Tree or Until the Red Leaves Fall or both. You don’t have to be a Dymocks Booklover member to enter, but if you are, you can win a $101 gift card.
I’ve been thinking recently about something that happened to me when I was living in London. I worked at a documentary production company and we would often have editors working out of the office. Like most Londoners, I caught the tube to work every day. This one particular morning, when I got off the tube, I bumped into one of the editors. We’d been sitting in the same carriage and I’d been writing (one of my favourite things to do on the 40 minute commute), so I hadn’t noticed him until we got to our station.
As we walked to the office together, he turned to me and said, ‘I have a game I play on the tube.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yes. I look at people’s shoes and I try and figure out what kind of person they are from their shoes.’
I’m an avid people watcher, so it sounded like a fairly interesting game to me.
‘Today,’ he continued, ‘I picked you. I didn’t realise it was you until I looked up from your shoes.’
I gave a small laugh. ‘Okay, so what did you decide about me from my shoes?’
At this, he went slightly pink and shook his head.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘You can’t not tell me.’
But he refused to answer. He didn’t say anything more to me until he came out of his editing booth to make a cup of tea at morning tea time, and even that was just a pleasantry.
What did my shoes look like, I hear you asking. They were over-ankle, lace up boots, with no zip (I don’t love a side zip on a boot), in a gorgeous deep brown colour. Around the top, they were faux fur lined. I loved these boots. I bought them in California, of all places, but they were an excellent boot for London. I wore them nearly every day, except in summer. The toes were scuffed, they were made of some leather-look material, and I bought them because they were pretty, not necessarily because they were particularly well made. But they weren’t falling apart, they weren’t cracked or damaged. They were well-worn and well-loved.
To this day, I still have no idea what judgments this man made about me based purely on my shoes. I assume they were reasonably negative, as why would he have an issue telling me otherwise? But it reminds me that you can make snap judgments on other people around you and be very quickly humbled by them. The world these days seems to be fighting to put wedges amongst us and, against the hostility around us, empathy is an incredible weapon.
Empathy isn’t always possible. But when it is, it’s a real superpower.
Don’t judge someone by their shoes.
Reading recs from January:
The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Mark Mupotsa-Russell. Described as Emma O’Donoghue’s Room on the run, The Wolf Who Cried Boy is told entirely through the eyes of Henry, a six-year-old boy who thinks he has superpowers. His mum has them too - she’s the Star Queen - and they’re hiding from the Wolf King, who is hunting them both out. When Henry’s grandmother becomes ill, Henry and his mother have to travel the country and risk being discovered by the Wolf King. This novel is a sobering, dark adventure tale that thrives on subtext and the reader bringing an extra layer of information as an adult to understand what Henry doesn’t. My first read of the year and a good one at that.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. While I don’t really feel you can be late to the party on a book, I’m late to the party on this book. When Count Alexander Rostov is exiled to within the walls of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow after the Russian Revolution, the former aristocrat must work out how to live out his remaining years without stepping outside. Beautifully written, a book about belonging, community and family, A Gentleman in Moscow can be summed up with this quote: ‘if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.’
Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi. Where are my romantasy girlies at and why are we sleeping on this book? Emezi is such a gorgeous writer, across such a variation of genres and Son of the Morning is so much fun. Galilee Kincaid comes from a family of women who fight the dark, but Galilee is somehow different from them again. She doesn’t realise how until she meets Lucifer - yes, that Lucifer - and the two of them can’t deny the magnetism between them. There’s also a hellgate threatening to swallow the Earth, there’s archangels and demons but it’s mostly delicious, spicy fun. This is what I like to call a ‘popcorn’ book - something quick and easy you can read in one sitting and is just a good time for everyone.
How’s your reading started for the year?
With love,
Alli x