Chain of events that led to the Scrooge haunting
ANNE CATER reviews the best new festive fiction...
HHHHH by Vanessa Lafaye (with Rebecca Mascull) HarperCollins, £7.99
IN this captivating prequel to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Vanessa Lafaye imagines how and why Jacob “Jake” Marley became the chain-rattling spirit who haunted Ebenezer Scrooge.
The story is told through the eyes of Jake’s younger sister Clara Belle. Dirt poor, the two orphans live on London’s darkest streets, scavenging for scraps. Each night Jake promises “tomorrow will be better”. But he finds himself on a path that leads him into partnership with miserly money-lender Ebenezer Scrooge.
Only Clara can warn her brother of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart.
Split into three parts, this novella paints a convincing picture of Victorian London, from the horrors faced by the
struggling poor to the extravagant riches of the wealthiest.
Rebecca Mascull has seamlessly completed the late Lafaye’s story of avarice mixed with love and hope. A beautiful and tender fable.
HHHH by Milly Johnson
Simon & Schuster, £7.99
THREE very different pregnant women meet at the antenatal Christmas Pudding Club in their small Yorkshire town.
Annie is expecting a baby for the first time after years of marriage.
Eve, busy running the Winterworld theme park with French husband Jacques, hadn’t even considered motherhood.
Palma became a surrogate mother to make money, only for the prospective parents to split, leaving her holding the baby with no partner or family to support her.
As all three women wrestle with their problems, it seems the Christmas Pudding Club is the only thing keeping them sane.
Milly Johnson’s trademark gritty Northern humour underpins these glorious characters and once again she makes her readers laugh out loud on one page before they break into sobs on another.
Although light-hearted and fun, this thought-provoking story also touches on serious issues and some scenes are completely heartbreaking.
HHHH by Veronica Henry Orion, £7.99
THE Kingham family have a tradition of decorating their Christmas tree together. But when Lizzy Kingham’s family don’t bother coming home to help, she decides she has had enough.
She packs a bag, leaves a note and drives off to a beach hut in North Devon.
Lizzy is not the only person on the beach who is escaping Christmas. Young Harley is trying to avoid another run-in with his mother’s abusive boyfriend and Jack with toddler son Nate cannot face Christmas at home after the death of wife and mother Fran.
Before long, they are all celebrating their own kind of Christmas. Barbecued turkey, smoked salmon and fairy lights create a different but still magical holiday.
However, Lizzy’s family are devastated by her disappearance and the Kinghams all realise that they have life lessons to learn.
This is a wonderfully warm, feel-good story with colourful characters and an irresistible beachfront setting, perfect for the time of year.