As December's long nights draw in and the sofa beckons, our reading ambitions often shrink to match the cosy mood. It's the season to swap dense biographies for captivating stories that offer pure escape. Whether you crave comfort, mystery, or romance, the perfect Christmas book is waiting to be discovered.
Cosy Escapes & Festive Romance
For those seeking heartwarming tales, this year's offerings deliver charm and seasonal spark. Laurie Gilmore's 'The Christmas Tree Farm' is a delightful romcom set in the town of Dream Harbor. It follows Kira North, who despises Christmas yet finds herself the new owner of a dilapidated tree farm. Her frosty outlook begins to thaw with the arrival of sunny Californian Bennett Ellis, leading to a story full of festive spirit and budding romance.
If Alpine glamour is more your style, Victoria Prince's 'The Chalet Girl' provides a fun, escapist read. Set in a luxurious ski resort, it follows Emmeline Everly as she navigates the world of the super-rich and a flirtatious entanglement with notorious bachelor Tristan du Kok. It's a scandal-filled, steamy story perfect for a single-sitting indulgence.
For a multi-generational family drama, Sarah Morgan's 'All Together for Christmas' is a comfort-blanket read. It explores the secrets and tensions within the Balfour family as a snow-in forces long-buried feelings to the surface, blending gentle romance with relatable family dynamics.
Murder, Mystery & Seasonal Menace
For readers who prefer their festivities with a side of suspense, a selection of cleverly plotted mysteries awaits. Nicola Upson's 'The Christmas Clue' transports readers to Christmas Eve 1943, where a planned murder mystery party at a snowbound hotel takes a dark turn with the discovery of a real body. The atmosphere is thick with suspicion as guests become suspects.
The queen of crime, Agatha Christie, is represented by 'Midwinter Murder', an anthology of her finest wintery short stories. Featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, these bite-sized puzzles are ideal for dipping into throughout the holiday period. They offer classic, comforting crime that never dates.
Denzil Meyrick's 'The Christmas Stocking Murders' offers a gloriously silly slice of cosy crime. Set in a snowed-in Yorkshire coastal village in 1953, detectives investigate a fisherman strangled with a stocking, a case that grows more bizarre with a second murder and hundreds of pairs of hosiery washing ashore.
Timeless Classics & Unconventional Tales
No festive reading list is complete without the ultimate redemption story. Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' remains the blueprint, a timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge's ghostly visits that champions generosity and kindness. It's endlessly re-readable, a poignant reminder of the season's true spirit.
From Iceland comes a quiet, powerful classic: Gunnar Gunnarsson's 'Advent'. Newly translated into English for the first time in 90 years, this slim novel follows Benedikt into the frozen mountains to rescue sheep. Its beautiful prose captures the harshness and holiness of midwinter, exploring themes of kindness and endurance.
For those fascinated by the darker folklore of the season, Sarah Clegg's 'The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas' peels back the tinsel. It explores the eerie traditions that have long haunted midwinter, from Krampus to pagan rites, blending cultural history with myth in a fascinating, unsettling read.
Finally, for a dose of humour to survive the family chaos, the late Jilly Cooper's 'How to Survive Christmas' delivers a gloriously irreverent guide. Her laugh-out-loud advice on handling difficult relatives and hideous jumpers makes it the perfect stocking-filler for anyone who loves Christmas but dreads it a little, too.
This festive season, the best gift might just be giving yourself permission to put your phone down, pour another drink, and get truly stuck into a brilliant book.
