‘Some books are so good that I just have to share them’

Her love of stories means that for the friends and family of JOANNE M

HARRIS, author of Chocolat and A Pocketful Of Crows, there will be lots of books being given as gifts.

The books I give at Christmas are the ones I just can’t keep to myself: I buy them so that others don’t have to listen to me constantly talking about them! For my literary friend Chris, I’d buy Benjamin Myers’ THE GALLOWS POLE. The true story of a band of counterfeiters called the Cragg Vale Coiners, this powerful novel is as brutal and as darkly lovely as Emily Brontë’s work. For my millennial daughter, Anouchka, A CLOSED AND COMMON ORBIT

by Becky Chambers. A clever, compassionate sci-fi about secrets, friendship, inclusion and what it really means to love. For my crafty friend Helen, it would have to be MAKING WINTER, A CREATIVE GUIDE FOR SURVIVING THE WINTER MONTHS, by Emma Mitchell. It’s a really pretty little book, full of recipes, designs and ideas for presents…