How romance writers Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley represent multi-faith holiday fun in new book
The co-authors joined Ali Hassan on The Next Chapter to discuss Three Holidays and a Wedding
When romance writers Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley decided to write a book together, they were set on creating a whimsical and inclusive holiday tale. In the rom-com novel Three Holidays and a Wedding, two women of different faiths find warmth and love in the charming town of Snow Falls.
Jalaluddin is an Ontario writer, teacher and parenting columnist known for taking classic romantic comedies and giving them a modern Muslim twist. Her books include Ayesha at Last, Hana Khan Carries On and Much Ado About Nada.
Stapley is a Toronto writer, journalist and author of romance, thrillers and romantic comedies. Her books include Mating for Life, Things To Do When It's Raining, The Last Resort, Lucky and The Holiday Swap, which was co-written by Karma Brown under the pen-name Maggie Knox.
Three Holidays and a Wedding is a multi-faith holiday rom-com about the love that occurs when Christmas, Ramadan and Hanukkah all fall at the same time. The story follows two strangers-turned-friends, Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson, who are snowbound in the small, charming town of Snow Falls — along with the cast and crew of a holiday romance movie, nosy family members and their lifelong crushes.
"Delightful havoc" — otherwise known as romance and relationship drama and comedy — ensues.
Jalaluddin and Stapley joined The Next Chapter's Ali Hassan to talk about what connected the two authors throughout the process of writing Three Holidays and a Wedding.
Uzma, I read in the author notes for the book that this grew out of an idea that you had. So take us back to the original idea.
Uzma Jalaluddin: Actually, the idea didn't really progress beyond what I guess in film terms is called a "log line". I'm a big fan of holiday rom-coms as many people are, especially when the days get shorter and the nights are longer, you just want to settle in with a nice cozy movie. But I always notice that, of course, all of these movies are about Christmas.
As someone who's never celebrated Christmas, I'm Muslim, I wondered what it would be like to have a holiday movie that was a bit more inclusive. So I had this idea of setting it in [a year] when Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah all happened at the same time, which really did occur in December of 2000.
I even had a title, it was going to be called "Happy Merry Eid Mubarak", and then when I floated the idea to Marissa, she liked it too.
As someone who's never celebrated Christmas, I'm Muslim, I wondered what it would be like to have a holiday movie that was a bit more inclusive.- Uzma Jalaluddin
Marissa, I know you've collaborated on a novel before with Karma Brown. How did you and Uzma come together for this novel?
Marissa Stapley: [Uzma] had this idea, which was more of a screenplay idea, and we had discussed that because we both have had various options on our books and are very interested in that world and potentially someday writing a screenplay. So she mentioned this to me and I could see it in my head and I was like, "Oh! There's a snowstorm and everyone's stuck in an airport!" and all this stuff.
I thought about it a little bit in terms of a screenplay and then I just kept coming back to the idea of turning it into a book and I wanted to do another collaboration. So then I soft pitched it to her and at the end of the conversation she said, "Wait a minute, are you asking me to write a book with you?" And I'm so glad she said yes, because we had such a wonderful time writing the novel, we've had such a wonderful time talking about it and it seems to be giving people the kind of joy it gave us, which at this time of year is exactly what you want.
Uzma, there's two main characters in the novel: Maryam and Anna. I'm taking a wild guess here, but could there be bits of you in Maryam? And if that's the case, what do you and she share in common?
Jalaluddin: Maryam Aziz is the eldest daughter in an immigrant South Asian family like me. Her family is from Hyderabad, India. I am also the eldest daughter in an immigrant South Asian family and so one of the things that I kept thinking about when I was writing Maryam's story was that sense of responsibility, that sense of wanting to make sure that everyone is OK and putting maybe your own dreams, hopes and and ideas on the back burner while you're taking care of everyone.
The other protagonist is Anna who comes from a multi-faith family. She celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah growing up. Where do you and Anna intersect?
Stapley: I grew up in a multi-faith home: my stepmother was Jewish, my stepdad is a United Church minister and we celebrated everything. As I got older, I did start to miss that and actually it's one of the great things about this book is it's brought that back into my life and we've started to bring those celebrations into our family again and teach the kids.
The story takes place over a holiday when Christmas, Hanukkah and Ramadan landed very close together on the calendar. How often does that happen?
Jalaluddin: The Islamic calendar is actually 11 days shorter than the regular Gregorian calendar, so this is a very rare occurrence. It happens around every three decades, about every 33 or so years. So it happened in the year 2000, probably in another 10 years, it'll happen again. Having been a young adult at the time, it was a really special moment. I remember it, all of my friends remember it because it felt like if you don't celebrate Christmas or you're part of another faith, you're sort of included all of a sudden in the holiday season. The lights seem to sparkle a little bit more. I'm excited to share that moment with my children in another 10 years.
Marissa, our two leading ladies are flying from Denver to Toronto for the holidays. So Maryam's going for her sister's wedding and Anna is going to meet up with her posh boyfriend's parents. But bad weather grounds them in this town of Snow Falls. What's the inspiration for this town?
Stapley: We kind of had Almonte in mind, which is outside of Ottawa. We actually read in the New York Times last year, [Almonte] the set for many holiday rom-coms we've all seen. Being a writer of holiday rom-coms, we became obsessed about that. But we also knew that we needed to change it to make it reflect the multicultural, multi-faith world we were creating here. So we thought of the GTA and the suburbs and we talked about how we created a town we would want to live in and the world we wanted to live in – it exists and it doesn't and we wish that it did.
Uzma, you thank your parents and the acknowledgement, which is a fairly common thing, but you thank them for teaching you how to fast. Tell me what fasting means to you.
Jalaluddin: I started fasting very young, as most people do most Muslims. When they learn to fast, they start maybe around seven, which I know seems quite shocking but it's gradually in-stages. So you'll fast until lunchtime or you'll fast for an entire day, you won't fast for the entire month until your [teens]. I was telling this to Marissa when we were discussing it, to me [fasting is] an act of empathy. It's a radical act of compassion because you're putting yourself in a situation that for most Canadians we don't experience, which is that of being in a state of hunger and not allowing yourself to eat or drink anything. And let me tell you, if you haven't experienced it, it's quite challenging.
It's a radical act of compassion because you're putting yourself in a situation that for most Canadians we don't experience- Uzma Jalaluddin
Marissa, let me ask you, have you ever fasted for any reason? Was this a new world to you to write about and learn about?
Stapley: I did fast for one day while we were writing the novel. It was last year in April, so not a walk in the park and also I was quite shocked to learn that dawn is not sunrise. I have to say that I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Uzma had offered to walk me through it and we both thought it would be a good idea to write this book authentically. Even though I wasn't writing her chapters, we were both in each other's chapters and that sort of radical act of empathy and compassion happened even after one day.
Even though I wasn't writing her chapters, we were both in each other's chapters.- Marissa Stapley
It was about 8 p.m. and I had ordered enough Hakka Chinese food for my entire neighborhood and I knew it would be arriving and I was setting the table because my family was waiting to eat with me and break the fast with me and I was hungry. We aren't hungry often, I couldn't remember the last time I was hungry. In that moment, as I set my table and I knew there would be food I thought, "but there are people who don't know if food is coming", and I still get almost tearful thinking about it. I mean it inspired a different way of charitable giving in me and even that one day changed my life a little bit.
So this juxtaposition was interesting because whereas Maryam comes from this large family who was actually with her all the time in real time in the book, Anna has lost both of her parents. She feels herself to be alone in the world at times. What did you want to say about the nature of family in her story?
Stapley: So I do come from a big and blended family and I have chosen family. My life is so full, so it was very interesting for me to drill down and write a character who was more of a lone wolf. I think what I wanted to explore was that idea that you can — I mean, I have my family, but I have friends who feel like family as well. And I know there are people who really need that, they need to open themselves up to chosen family. I think that was really what I wanted to explore with Anna, that you can have a smaller circle and still have a very full emotional and familial life. And I think that's why the relationship with Maryam became such a big part of the story, we talk about it as almost as big as the romance is, that friendship, and we see it as enduring.
There's a Rumi quote at the beginning of the book. I wonder if you can read it and talk about why you chose that.
Jalaluddin: "The sun's light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall, and a lot different on this other one, but it's still one light."
This quote Marissa found actually, and when she put it in her in our Google doc as the epigraph I thought, this is so perfect. I love Rumi. And of course Jalaluddin is a Persian mystic poet, he was Muslim and he was a Jalaluddin – no relation although I would love to claim that. It's basically talking about how all of these three faiths: Christianity, Islam, Judaism. We share so many things in common and one of the things that we share is our faith in humanity, our love and joy in humanity. That's really what we're trying to capture with this book.
We share so many things in common and one of the things that we share is our faith in humanity, our love and joy in humanity.- Uzma Jalaluddin
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
