All wrapped up in festive tales
Step straight into Christmas with EMMA LEE-POTTER’s selection of the best new seasonal fiction
AN ISLAND CHRISTMAS
by Jenny Colgan (Sphere, £7.99) The inhabitants of the tiny Scottish island of Mure are busy preparing for Christmas amid heartbreak and joy.
Flora, the owner of The Seaside Kitchen café, has discovered she’s accidentally pregnant with her ex-boss’s baby and isn’t sure how he’ll react. Syrian doctor Saif is planning his first Scottish Christmas with his two sons while American hotelier Colton fears this one will be his last.
The fourth of Jenny Colgan’s much-loved Mure series is a delight from start to finish.
A MIDWINTER PROMISE
by Lulu Taylor
(Pan, £7.99)
Julia Teague has always adored Tawray, her family home in Cornwall, even though her childhood was marred by her mother’s struggle to have more children.
After a wild few years in London, the captivating Julia returns to live at Tawray with her royal aide husband David. But despite their happiness, the anguish of her youth returns to haunt her all over again, with tragic consequences.
Lulu Taylor’s beguiling novel switches between the past and the present as Julia’s two grown-up children seek to understand their mother’s secret torment. Compelling and heart-rending, this is the perfect read for a chilly winter evening.
CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC
by Sophie Kinsella
(Bantam Press, £20)
Shopaholic Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is back with a festive flourish. She loves everything about Christmas – carols, crackers and, of course, shopping.
But this year her parents have moved to trendy Shoreditch and
Becky is hosting Christmas for the first time ever.
If that isn’t stressful enough, her sister is demanding a vegan turkey, her little daughter needs a school nativity costume pronto and an old flame has returned to the neighbourhood.As always, Sophie Kinsella’s irrepressible heroine rises to the challenge in hilarious style.
THE CHRISTMAS WEDDING
by Dilly Court (HarperCollins, £7.99) It’s 1867 and governess Daisy Marshall has been jilted by the son of her well-to-do employer.
Heartbroken and bereft, she flees to a tiny coastal village in Essex, where she makes friends with two very different men – dedicated doctor Nick and charismatic smuggler Jay.
As cholera strikes the community, Daisy does her best to help the poverty-stricken villagers, only to discover that dangerous enemies threaten to destroy her efforts. Can Daisy save the village and find happiness in time for Christmas?
The first of Dilly Court’s sparkling new trilogy is an enthralling historical tale with a dash of romance.
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
by Karen Swan (Pan, £7.99) When Irish aristocrat Declan Lorne dies suddenly, he leaves his stunning castle to Willow, the youngest of his three daughters.
No one knows why Willow fled the family home three years ago but her two sisters, Ottie and Pip, aren’t impressed when she announces she’s selling the estate to a man their father loathed.
Before the new owner moves in, he persuades Willow to hire out the castle for a glamorous party just days before Christmas.
An escapist tale of glamour, frolics and family intrigue.
WE MET IN DECEMBER
by Rosie Curtis (Avon, £7.99)
It’s December and unlucky-in-love Jess has quit her job and moved into a Notting Hill house-share.
Alex, a former lawyer training to be a nurse, lives in the room next door and there’s a spark between them.
But the path of true love gets off to a rocky start when Jess returns from her skiing holiday to discover he’s sleeping with Emma, a housemate who lives on the floor above.A “will they, won’t they?” love story, with all the Christmas trimmings.
ONE WINTER MORNING
by Isabelle Broom
(Penguin, £7.99)
Isabelle Broom made her name with novels set in exotic locations and this time, her heroine Genie travels to New Zealand to meet her birth mother for the first time.
It’s December, a year after Genie lost her adored adoptive mother Anna, and she’s turned her back on the job she loved and has never felt more alone.
Will she find a new family to heal her on the other side of the world? A moving and beautifully written tale.
THE CHRISTMAS INVITATION
by Trisha Ashley
(Bantam Press, £12.99) Emerald-haired artist Meg is convalescing from a bout of pneumonia when she reluctantly agrees to paint the portraits of a distinguished literary couple in the wilds of the Lancashire countryside. Raised in a hippy commune, Meg has never celebrated Christmas but, as she gets to know Clara and Henry
Doome and their eccentric household, she gradually comes round to the idea of enjoying the festive season with them.
But just as she’s beginning to settle, she spots a face from the past – and all she wants to do is run away.A witty, original read.
SNOWED IN AT THE PRACTICE
by Penny Parkes
(Simon & Schuster, £7.99)
GP Holly Graham has an awful lot on her plate – a doctor husband, two sets of twins, a menagerie of animals, a regular slot on a radio talk show and the prospect of returning to the job she loves after maternity leave.
She even manages to save a baby’s life at a toddler tambourine class. Penny Parkes brings her characters and the idyllic Cotswold town of Larkford to life so vividly you’ll want to move there yourself.
A PERFECT CORNISH CHRISTMAS
by Phillipa Ashley
(Avon, £7.99)
Scarlett and her sister Ellie are determined to give their family a unique Christmas gift.They sign up with a DNA testing and ancestry website and plan to unveil their “big surprise” on
Christmas Day, only for it all to go horribly wrong.
Months later, Scarlett heads to the Cornish seaside town of Porthmellow to try to discover the truth about her real father, and bring her fractured family together.
But will they have the perfect Christmas this year – or are there more surprises on the way? A tale of family secrets, heartache, friendship and romance.
I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
by Abbey Clancy
(Mills & Boon, £7.99)
Abbey Clancy is a busy woman. She and her ex-footballer husband Peter Crouch have four children and, as well as winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, she’s a model, fashion designer and presenter of Britain’s Next Top
Model. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s now written her second novel.
Pop star Jessika Malone is riding high in the charts with her latest single when she’s offered the chance of a lifetime – a US tour with mega-famous singer Cooper Black. But it means travelling thousands of miles away from her boyfriend Daniel, a record producer she’s known since childhood.
This entertaining read lifts the lid on fame, glitz and glamour.
A MRS MIRACLE CHRISTMAS
by Debbie Macomber
(Arrow, £7.99)
Laurel has always been close to her grandmother, who raised her after the death of her mother.
But when her beloved Nana is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Laurel doesn’t know how the family will cope. Lauren and her husband Zach also long to become parents but their dreams have been dashed.
Then, just before Christmas, the angelic Mrs Miracle appears – and their lives take a positive turn.An uplifting tale from a much-loved US writer.