This beautiful hardcover edition of The Polar Express is the perfect gift for all those—of any age—who believe, come Christmas Eve, that they too will hear the sweet sound of a reindeer’s silver bell. This edition includes a keepsake ornament.A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical train to the North Pole . . .Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a barren desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the huge city standing alone at the top of the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish.For millions of readers around the world, this mysterious journey to the North Pole has become a beloved Christmas classic. In this thirtieth-anniversary edition, the inimitable artistry of Chris Van Allsburg is showcased with a bold new jacket design and expanded interior layout.The Polar Express is a Caldecott Medal winner, and reading the story together is a beloved holiday tradition held by generations of families. It has also become a favorite holiday movie and been translated into stage productions that take place across the United States during the holiday season.

Finally: the perfect stocking stuffer for the crime fiction lover in your life! With a foreword by CWA Diamond Award-winner Peter Lovesey, these eighteen delightful holiday stories by your favorite Soho Crime authors contain laughs, murders, and plenty more.This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Christmas dinner with a stranger. Niccolò Machiavelli sets out to save an Italian city. Sherlock Holmes’s one-time nemesis Irene Adler finds herself in an unexpected tangle in Paris while on a routine espionage assignment. Jane Austen searches for the Dowager Duchess of Wilborough’s stolen diamonds. These and other adventures in this delectable volume will whisk readers away to Christmases around the globe, from a Korean War POW camp to a Copenhagen refugee squat, from a palatial hotel in 1920s Bombay to a crumbling mansion in Havana.Includes Stories By (In Order of Appearance):Helene Tursten, Mick Herron, Martin Limón, Timothy Hallinan, Teresa Dovalpage, Mette Ivie Harrison, Colin Cotterill, Ed Lin, Stuart Neville, Tod Goldberg, Henry Chang, James R. Benn, Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis, Sujata Massey, Gary Corby, Cara Black, Stephanie Barron and a Foreword and story by Peter Lovesey.

The author of the beloved New York Times bestseller Wicked returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him.Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists' colony-- a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination . . .Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann-- the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann's mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier-- the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's fairy tale ballet-- who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults-- a fascination with death and the afterlife-- and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Get ready to be swept up in a whirlwind romance. It absolutely charmed me.”—Reese Witherspoon (A Reese’s Book Club Pick)“The perfect book to get lost in . . . Josie Silver’s characters sneak their way into your heart and stay.”—Jill Santopolo, author of The Light We LostTwo people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic . . . and then her bus drives away.Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend, Sarah, giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.What follows for Laurie, Sarah, and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming, and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

Gorgeously packaged with intricate illustrations from Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annukka, this new edition of Hans Christian Andersen's well-loved fairy tale, The Snow Queen, is the perfect holiday gift for adults and children alike.Hans Christian Andersen's magical tale of friendship and adventure is retold through the beautiful and intricate illustrations of Finnish illustrator Sanna Annukka. Cloth-bound in deep blue, with silver foil embellishments, The Snow Queen is elevated from a children's book to a unique work of art. It is an ideal gift for people of all ages.

The queen of feel-good Christmas fiction returns with a snowy adventure to Canada!'If you love a rugged hero, a heroine you can relate to, a warm romantic story and a bit of armchair travel, Countdown to Christmas is for you!' Katie Fforde'It just wouldn't be Christmas without Jo's book in your stocking!' Jill Mansell-----------------------------------Chloe can't wait for Christmas . . . to be over! Her son Ruben is staying with his dad and Chloe is planning to ignore the holidays altogether. Her only festive touch is her son's advent calendar, to help count down the days till he's home again.But a surprise call changes everything. Chloe might be the unexpected owner of some land in Canada! Surely, it's a scam. Or could it be just the escape she needs right now? Ruben's latest note in the advent calendar tells her to 'say yes!'In a flash, Chloe's new countdown to Christmas involves a log cabin in the middle of a snowy forest, a community that's worried for its future, a gruff lumberjack who gives her butterflies and a lot of pancakes with maple syrup . . .For a happy Christmas read full of romance and festive surprises, choose Jo Thomas.Readers love Jo's books:'Bursting with flavour, adventure and romance' Ruth Jones'Jo sweeps you away to a better place with every book, which are always filled with warmth, love and a big spoonful of happiness' Veronica Henry'Sparkling, romantic, magical - and delicious' Milly Johnson

Winner of Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ RomanceA Best New Holiday Romance by PopSugar, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and more!The author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar) The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.Perfect for fans of Written in the Stars and One Day in December, Kiss Her Once for Me is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.

For everyone who loves Tchaikovsky, Ballanchine, music, ballet, or Christmas, this edition of The Nutcracker is sure to enchant readers young and old.On Christmas Eve, seven-year-old Marie and her eight-year-old brother Fritz anxiously await their Christmas gifts. When their godfather—a clock builder and toymaker—arrives, he unveils an ornate clockwork castle adorned with whirling figurines for the children. While Fritz plays with the clock, Marie is taken aside and given another gift—a nutcracker.After Fritz grabs the nutcracker from Marie and breaks its jaw by cracking too many nuts, their playtime ends and they head off to bed. When the clock strikes twelve, magic makes its way into this enduring tale and an epic battle ensues.This timeless classic, featuring all-new full-color and black-and-white illustrations by artist Arkady Roytman and abridged text by Gina Gold, is the perfect story to get anyone in the holiday spirit!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Debbie Macomber brings us to the Alaskan wilderness for a magical Christmas tale about finding love where it’s least expected.“Picture-perfect . . . this charmer will please Macomber fans and newcomers alike.”—Publishers WeeklyBefore beginning her dream job as sous chef in one of Seattle’s hottest new restaurants, Josie Avery takes a summer position cooking at a lakeside lodge in the remote Alaskan town of Ponder. Josie falls for the rustic charms of the local community—including Jack Corcoran, the crotchety keeper of Ponder’s famed sourdough starter, and, in particular, the quiet and intense Palmer Saxon, a famed master swordsmith.Josie and Palmer become close during the long Alaskan summer days, but Josie knows that, come fall, she’ll be returning to reality and the career she’s worked so hard for. Palmer, on the other hand, would like nothing better than to make Josie his wife and to keep her in Ponder. But Josie can’t imagine abandoning her mother back in the Emerald City and sacrificing her career to stay in this isolated town—not even for a man she’s quickly coming to love.Fate has other plans. Josie misses the last boat out of town before winter sets in, stranding her in Ponder and putting her dream job at risk. As the holidays approach, Josie and Palmer must grapple with the complications that arise when dreams confront reality, and the Christmas magic that can happen when they put their faith in love.Debbie Macomber is at her best in this beautiful holiday story about the far journeys we travel to find a place to call home.Praise for Alaskan Holiday“[A] tender romance lightly brushed with holiday magic.”—Library Journal“[A] thoroughly charming holiday romance.”—Booklist

Jane Austen turns sleuth in this delightful murder mystery set over the twelve days of a Regency-Era Christmas party.Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide revelers dies in a tragic accident, which Jane immediately views with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is one of Jane’s fellow snow-bound guests. With clues scattered amidst cleverly crafted charades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help her discover the truth and stop the killer from striking again?

An enchanting story about the magic of Christmas, the importance of family, and the joy of falling in love during the most romantic season of the year…Christmas has always been a special time for Noelle Parker. Winter evenings spent with family and friends, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies at her family’s cozy bakery have shaped her love for all things festive. But this year everything is changing…The beloved bakery is facing closure and Noelle needs a miracle to save Christmas.Determined to raise funds for the family business, Noelle sets about revamping the bakery while juggling a surprise new job, caring for the elderly and cantankerous William Harrington in his luxurious, sprawling mansion.As Noelle melts the frostiness of the house with cake baking, snowball fights and glittering decorations, she helps William to reconnect with a romance that has spanned decades and unexpectedly finds herself falling for his grandson - the gorgeous but mysterious Alexander Harrington…In the countdown to Christmas, can Noelle save the bakery, reunite a family and create some magical memories of her own along the way?Unwrap the feeling of Christmas in this beautiful novel celebrating friendship, family and love that lasts a lifetime. We’ll Always Have Christmas is the perfect treat for fans of Karen Swan, Susan Mallery and Sue Moorcroft.Readers are falling in love with Jenny Hale’s stories:‘I was well and truly gripped … an incredibly strong hidden message … I finished the book crying my eyes out … I felt as though the book just walked into my soul … Jenny writes with such ease and authenticity that her words usually stop me in my tracks. She has THAT edge. Whilst Jenny's other books are brilliant, she has outdone herself with her latest as this is now my favourite book of hers … a soul hugging, emotional and poignant read that highlights the true magic of Christmas, and family. An undeniably joyful yet emotional read that will stay in my heart for a very, very long time.’ The Writing Garnet‘Good old Jenny Hale, if there's one thing you can be sure of it's a curl up, feel good, good old fashioned romance! … an easy to read book and one that is perfect for Christmas.’ Best Crime Books and More‘Jenny Hale has done it again. A marvellous holiday tale/romance.’ Goodreads Reviewer‘Has me excited for Christmas already.’ Fiona’s Book Reviews‘This is the second holiday romance that I've read from Jenny Hale and I ended up enjoying it just as much as the other one I read, Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses. Jenny Hale has a way of really making you feel the excitement and magic of the holidays … she puts you through all of the feels … I found myself smiling, laughing, and even tearing up a few times … The guy was seriously perfect in every way ... Perfect holiday romance.’ Happily Ever Chapter‘Another great festive read from Jenny Hale. I'm actually starting to feel like it's becoming a tradition to read her books each year! … you will not be disappointed, there's plenty of log fires, snow and festiveness in this story that it hits all the marks to keep me happy!!’ Goodreads Reviewer‘A heartwarming Christmas love story. Nothing quite like a massive family Christmas to warm the cockles …. Fate, romance and a large smattering of Christmas magic make this book an ideal festive read.’ Goodreads Reviewer‘A heartwarming Christmas read … full of tension but love is just around the corner.’ The Reading Shed

Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.\n“The charming holiday romp you absolutely need in your life!” —Tessa Bailey\nBee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.\nForced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.\nBut things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.\nAnd if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.

#1 New York Times bestselling author! A New York Times Best Seller! Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Fiction of 2014! An Indie Next Pick!IF YOU GOT A SECOND CHANCE AT LOVE,WOULD YOU MAKE THE SAME CALL?As far as time machines go, a magic telephone is pretty useless.TV writer Georgie McCool can't actually visit the past -- all she can do is call it, and hope it picks up.And hope he picks up.Because once Georgie realizes she has a magic phone that calls into the past, all she wants to do is make things right with her husband, Neal.Maybe she can fix the things in their past that seem unfixable in the present. Maybe this stupid phone is giving her a chance to start over ...Does Georgie want to start over?From Rainbow Rowell, the New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, comes this heart-wrenching - and hilarious - take on fate, time, television and true love.Landline asks if two people are ever truly on the same path, or whether love just means finding someone who will keep meeting you halfway, no matter where you end up.

"CHARMING...I READ IT IN A COUPLE OF EBULLIENT, CHRISTMASSY GULPS." ―Anthony Doerr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All The Light We Cannot See"GRACED BY THE GHOSTLY PRESENCE OF MR. DICKENS HIMSELF...PROMISES TO PUT YOU IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT." ―USA TodayA beloved, irresistible novel that reimagines the story behind Charles Dickens' Christmas classicCharles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in.Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.

"Mix in one part Diane Mott Davidson’s delightful culinary adventures with several tablespoons of Jan Karon’s country living and quirky characters, bake at 350 degrees for one rich and warm romance." --Library JournalA full-hearted novel about a big-city baker who discovers the true meaning of home—and that sometimes the best things are found when you didn’t even know you were lookingWhen Olivia Rawlings—pastry chef extraordinaire for an exclusive Boston dinner club—sets not just her flambéed dessert but the entire building alight, she escapes to the most comforting place she can think of—the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont, home of Bag Balm, the country’s longest-running contra dance, and her best friend Hannah. But the getaway turns into something more lasting when Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous, sweater-set-wearing owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and knowing that her days at the club are numbered, Livvy accepts.Livvy moves with her larger-than-life, uberenthusiastic dog, Salty, into a sugarhouse on the inn’s property and begins creating her mouthwatering desserts for the residents of Guthrie. She soon uncovers the real reason she has been hired—to help Margaret reclaim the inn’s blue ribbon status at the annual county fair apple pie contest.With the joys of a fragrant kitchen, the sound of banjos and fiddles being tuned in a barn, and the crisp scent of the orchard just outside the front door, Livvy soon finds herself immersed in small town life. And when she meets Martin McCracken, the Guthrie native who has returned from Seattle to tend his ailing father, Livvy comes to understand that she may not be as alone in this world as she once thought.But then another new arrival takes the community by surprise, and Livvy must decide whether to do what she does best and flee—or stay and finally discover what it means to belong. Olivia Rawlings may finally find out that the life you want may not be the one you expected—it could be even better.

Torn apart by grief, can two sisters rediscover joy in the memory of their mother’s love?Romy Moore has always cherished the warm embrace of her family home in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains―a welcome escape from life on the lower rungs of the London career ladder. It is her mother Cathy’s encouragement that has kept Romy chasing her dreams, so when she loses her, Romy feels more adrift than ever.Ambitious and unflappable Joanna has always been the sister with her act together, but the birth of her twin daughters and the loss of her mother changes everything. Torn between giving her children the same start in life that she had and missing her high-powered tech career in Silicon Valley, she can’t help wondering: was she right to swap ambition for family?As the first reunion looms, Romy notices that the home that once rang with laughter now feels empty, her father a passing shadow and her brother brooding and silent. But when she discovers their mother has left behind some important words of wisdom as a helping hand for them to carry on without her, a glimmer of hope sparks to life. Can Cathy’s loving reminder of beautiful little family memories guide her children through the festive season―and on into a future without her?

**From KSA shortlisted author, Francesca Catlow, comes the perfect December read**“I loved this book!! The first chapter had me sucked in completely.” G. Mountain“A wonderful French escape… Earth-shattering and uplifting... A must read.” Book lover reviewsIt was supposed to be a relaxing lead up to Christmas for Félicité, spending December visiting her grandmother in the glittering French Christmas market of Rouen. Instead, her grandmother gifts her a townhouse and thrusts her into the arms of Ralph, a semi-celebrity from England. But a romance with longevity isn’t on Félicité’s Christmas list. She has a young son to think of who is spending time with his dad, and Ralph has a tragic past that has prevented him from having a meaningful relationship in years.There’s nothing Félicité won’t do for her son and her grandmother, and Ralph isn’t part of the equation. But although their time together was brief, neither can let go of its magic. A year later, and desperately missing ‘the one that got away’, can they finally make it work this Christmas? Or will Ralph’s past catch up with them both?How can you live in the present, when a promise ties you to the past?From the top 50 amazon bestselling author Francesca Catlow, comes the Christmas book of the year. With unexpected twists and an emotional journey all nestled amongst Rouen’s Christmas market, The Last Christmas Promise is guaranteed to keep you turning pages through the long winter nights. Expect tears, gasps and to be broken and put back together again. Great for fans of Kate Frost and Paige Toon.

Naturalist Stephen Moss digs beneath the surface of some of our most popular Christmas carols in an ornithological celebration of the Festive Season. Using the structure of the carol as a jumping off point, he explores the place of twelve fascinating British birds in our history, culture and landscape. Some of the birds are obvious, there's the swan and of course the partridge. Other chapters are loose interpretations of a verse: for drummers drumming he delves into the woodpecker's distinctive drumming tap. Woodpeckers, he explains, have special padded skulls to mitigate against using its head like hammer drills. They carefully select dead trees for the most hollow, sonorous sound. With brilliant anecdotes and insights, Stephen Moss weaves history, culture, bird behaviour and folklore into a compelling narrative for each species, tracing its fortunes over the past two centuries. 'A superb naturalist and writer' Chris Packham 'Moss has carved out an enviable niche as a chronicler of the natural world' Daily Mail

Review\\nThe ultimate in feel-good fiction reads, it will fill your heart with Christmas spirit--Milly Johnson\nA fabulous festive read--Heidi Swain\nA gorgeous festive treat... this is an absolute delight--Hazel Prior, bestselling author of Away with the Penguins\nA mouth-watering and hugely entertaining read--Heidi Swain, North Norfolk Living\n[A] hugely enjoyable story... full of humour with a large dose of Christmas spirit--Lancashire Post\nA heart-warming, intriguing, magical read!--My Creative Notebook\nA cosy seasonal read--Choice\nLight and fluffy as a snowflake, this'll warm your cockles--Peterborough Telegraph\nThe regal setting and lots of delicious description make this family affair a real delight--Metro\n'Full of charm, wit and beautifully picturesque settings ... one of the author's best festive novels to date--Culturefly\nTrisha Ashley delivers yet another Christmas cracker--My Weekly\\nDescription to come.

‘A delight… An amateur sleuth to rival Miss Marple’ Guardian(Please note that this book was previously published as Groaning Spinney.)Mrs Bradley, sharp-eyed detective and celebrated psychiatrist, has decided to spend Christmas with her nephew at his beautiful house in the Cotswolds.It isn’t long before a mystery unfolds. There are strange events occurring in the nearby wood and local villagers are receiving anonymous threatening letters. Then the snow begins to fall – and a body is discovered.Mrs Bradley is on the case, but she’ll have to hatch an ingenious plan to reveal the truth and find the culprit…

Cozy up with New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's first Christmas novel, hailed “a diverting tale… filled with humor, romance, and realism” by USA Today, in which a family gathers on Nantucket for a holiday filled with chaos, caroling, and cheer.Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all of them grown and living in varying states of disarray. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a French housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines.As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus (or the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party), utter chaos descends. With the three older children each reeling in their own dramas and Bart unreachable in Afghanistan, it might be up to Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling, in this heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays.Follow the Quinn family through the entire Winter Street Series: Winter Street Winter Stroll Winter Storms Winter Solstice

Charles Dickens should be looking forward to Christmas. But when his latest book, Martin Chuzzlewit, is a flop, his publishers give him an ultimatum. Either he writes a Christmas book in a month or they will call in his debts and he could lose everything. Dickens has no choice but to grudgingly accept...

A critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author explores the Christmas holiday, from the original festival through present day traditions. \n Christmas has always been a magical time. Or has it? Thirty years after the first recorded Christmas, one archbishop was already complaining that his flock was spending the day, not in worship, but in dancing and feasting to excess. By 1616, the playwright Ben Jonson was nostalgically remembering the Christmases of the old days, certain that they had been better then.\n Other elements of Christmas are much newer – who would have thought gift-wrap was a novelty of the twentieth century? That the first holiday parade was neither at Macy’s, nor even in the USA?\n Some things, however, never change. The first known gag holiday gift book, The Boghouse Miscellany, was advertised in the 1760s ‘for gay Gallants, and good companions’, while in 1805, the leaders of the Lewis and Clark expedition exchanged–what else?–presents of underwear and socks. \n Christmas is all things to all people: a religious festival, a family celebration, a period of eating and drinking. In Christmas, bestselling author and acclaimed social historian Judith Flanders casts a sharp eye on its myths, legends and history, deftly moving from the origins of the holiday in the Roman empire, through the first appearance of Christmas trees in Central Europe, to what might be the origins of Santa Claus – in Switzerland – to draw a picture of the season as it has never been seen before.

'Karen Swan is the queen of destination fiction' Woman & Home The Christmas Postcards is the unmissable, spellbinding new book from the Sunday Times bestseller Karen Swan *** The right words can change everything . . . It had been a make-or-break holiday for their marriage, but Natasha and Rob's rekindled romance is short-lived when their daughter's beloved soft toy disappears on the journey home. As Natasha comforts her distraught child, she turns to social media for help. Miraculously, the toy is found, but it has become the lucky mascot of a man named Duffy, who is thousands of miles away trekking in Nepal. When Duffy promises to keep Natasha updated with pictures, a correspondence begins that soon becomes more meaningful. Sometimes, Natasha feels this stranger half way across the world understands her more than the man lying next to her. But as the weeks pass and Duffy heads deeper into the mountains, Natasha notices a change in him. Then one day, the messages stop. Too late, Natasha wonders why he had ever needed a lucky mascot at all. *Readers are falling in love with The Christmas Postcards*'I was enthralled from the first pages' 5* reader review'Definitely my favourite Karen Swan book so far' 5* reader review'The story gripped me right from the start and still hasn't let me go. I loved it' 5* reader review'I read this in two sittings, I literally didn't want to put the book down' 5* reader review'Addictive reading' 5* reader review

Do you remember when you believed in magic?\nIt is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment.\nThe Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own. Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own.\nBut Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own.A dark enchanting, spectacularly imaginative novel perfect for fans of Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus.

The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicalsDuring the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected here, including a wide range of stories from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten. Readers whose only previous experience with Victorian Christmas ghost stories has been Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" will be surprised and delighted at the astonishing variety of ghostly tales in this volume."In the sickly light I saw it lying on the bed, with its grim head on the pillow. A man? Or a corpse arisen from its unhallowed grave, and awaiting the demon that animated it?" - John Berwick Harwood, "Horror: A True Tale""Suddenly I aroused with a start and as ghostly a thrill of horror as ever I remember to have felt in my life. Something -- what, I knew not -- seemed near, something nameless, but unutterably awful." - Ada Buisson, "The Ghost's Summons""There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her while she lived." - Walter Scott, "The Tapestried Chamber"

A love story about what happens after you meet, or rather, don't meet the one.Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away.Certain they're fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn't find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they "reunite" at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It's Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Macomber hits the sweet spot with this tender tale of impractical love. . . . A delicious Christmas miracle well worth waiting for.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.Don’t miss Debbie Macomber’s short story “Lost and Found in Cedar Cove” in the back of the book.

A magical tale of imagination, adventure, and the power of storytelling, perfect for fans of The Golden Compass and A Wrinkle in Time. Kay's father has gone missing on Christmas Eve! And when Kay and her sister Ell go to his office, everyone he works with claims never to have heard of him. So later that evening, when Kay wakes up to find two mysterious strangers outside her bedroom window, talking about her father and looking for the last remnants of his existence, she demands to know what's happened to her dad. The two strangers, Flip and Will, are wraiths, on a mission to bring Kay and Ell's father to their world--the world of woven stories and grand imagination that their father has spent his career studying. Only things in that world have gone very wrong, and the Bride of Bithynia, the only being who can set things right, is nowhere to be found. Can Kay and Ell find their father and join Flip and Will in a centuries-old battle to save the world? Debut author Andrew Zurcher has created a world as captivating as Lyra's Oxford and Alice's Wonderland in this spellbinding quest of a novel. Praise for Twelve Nights: * "Debut author Zurcher writes with surety and panache . . . a superb adventure." --Booklist, STARRED REVIEW "One for the bookshelf of any fantasy enthusiast." --Kirkus Reviews

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Proposal and a “rising star in the romance genre” (Entertainment Weekly) comes a dazzling novel about a spontaneous holiday vacation that turns into an unforgettable romance.Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his charming accent, and unyielding formality.Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour—until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling.Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day...or are they?

A beautiful keepsake based on the musical Wicked, now in its 20th year on Broadway.Wicked is not just a musical, it is a phenomenon. Every week, 15,000 people pack New York's Gershwin Theatre to see the show. Wicked is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire. It tells the story of Elphaba, the headstrong Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the good witch, growing up in the Land of Oz. This beautifully packaged, whimsical keepsake is designed to resemble the Grimmerie, an ancient book of spells that Elphaba uses in the show. Wicked: The Grimmerie offers fans a behind-the-curtains peek at the musical, profiles of the cast and creative team, and inside stories, with full-color photographs throughout. Some of the irresistible special features include an "Ozian" glossary, spells, an illustrated family tree, and a step-by-step look at how Elphaba gets green before each show--everything fans need to relive the Broadway experience day after day.

'This book is the seasonal garnish we all need' Observer "My mother is not a foodie. But for as long as I can remember, once a year, she becomes possessed of a profound and desperate need to serve up a perfect roast turkey. Faced with a walk into the village though, she might think 'oh, f*** it' and decide to get a frozen one from Bejams on the 23rd and leave it to defrost in the downstairs toilet for not quite 48 hours." From perennially dry turkeys to Christmas pudding fires, from the round robin code of conduct to the risks and rewards of re-gifting, An Almost Perfect Christmas is an ode to the joy and insanity of the most wonderful time of the year.

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts . . . he's at Hogwarts."Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017\n'Extraordinary and original' Raymond Briggs'Sometimes it feels like I might be the only person awake in the whole country. People might find that a lonely thought. Not me...' \nAs the rest of the world sleeps, the Gritterman goes out to work. Through the wind and the snow. Through the blue-black hours when time slips away, he grits the paths and the pavements and the roads. For him, a life without gritting is no life at all...\nA song for the unsung hero, this is a story about stoicism, dignity and a man leaving behind the work that he loves. It is accompanied by the author's own illustrations.\n**Listen to or download The Gritterman's companion album featuring 10 new tracks by Orlando Weeks. Available now on all digital and streaming platforms.**

Celebrate Christmas with the ultimate Shopaholic! A Sunday Times bestseller.The brilliant laugh-out-loud festive novel from the Number One bestselling author.Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adores Christmas. It's always the same – Mum and Dad hosting, carols playing, Mum pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the next-door neighbours coming round for sherry in their terrible festive jumpers.And now it's even easier with online bargain-shopping sites – if you spend enough you even get free delivery. Sorted!But this year looks set to be different. Unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocado, Becky's parents are moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch and have asked Becky if she'll host Christmas this year. What could possibly go wrong?With sister Jess demanding a vegan turkey, husband Luke determined that he just wants aftershave again, and little Minnie insisting on a very specific picnic hamper – surely Becky can manage all this, as well as the surprise appearance of an old boyfriend and his pushy new girlfriend, whose motives are far from clear . . .Will chaos ensue, or will Becky manage to bring comfort and joy to Christmas?***** EVERYBODY LOVES CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC: *****'Becky and Christmas is just the perfect combination, and this book is funnier and more loveable than ever' Jenny Colgan'A perfect Christmas read, laced with humor, with plenty to empathise with. A joyful, funny novel' Catherine Alliott'As sparkly as a Christmas tree and full of festive joy, this one's a total cracker' Lucy Diamond'A brilliant, laugh-out-loud read' Woman's Weekly

“Reading Christmas in London, you’ll feel magically transported!" ―Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of A Lowcountry ChristmasSet during London's most festive time of year and filled with delicious food, Anita Hughes's Christmas in London reminds us that love and forgiveness are truly the greatest gifts of all.It’s a week before Christmas, and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.And then there’s Kate, the show's beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew's in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work.This enchanting novel is a delicious holiday treat!

For fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and lovers of Christmas holidays, Letters from Father Christmas is a gorgeous, full-color, festive gift featuring a wealth of letters and illustrations that Tolkien created for his children, appearing in a smaller, more reader-friendly trim size for the first time. This handsome edition also includes an introduction from daughter-in-law Baillie Tolkien, reflecting on the centenary anniversary of the letters, as well as a personal note by Tolkien himself.Every December, an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful colored drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas.They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining room; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house!Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humor to the stories. No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by the inventiveness and “authenticity” of Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas.

A New York Times bestseller (with a special sparkly cover)! Experience the beautiful story that captivated the country about a little owl found in the world's most famous Christmas tree. When Little Owl’s home is cut down by people saying it will make a beautiful Christmas tree, she’s not sure she wants anything to do with Christmas, whatever that means. But then she is saved by a woman named Ellen, whose house is merrily decorated for the holiday, and filled with birds who need someone to care for them. Surrounded by kindness and helpful new friends, Little Owl begins to wonder if Christmas might not be such a bad thing after all….Co-written by Ellen Kalish, caretaker of the real owl found inside the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, The Christmas Owl is a charming story of friendship, compassion, and the true meaning of this special time of year.

One broken heart, ten blind dates―and a whole lot of confusion!"POSITIVELY DELIGHTFUL-all caps-from beginning to end." - NPRSophie wants one thing for Christmas―a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship.Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents’ house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That’s when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she’s started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever . . . or is it?

________________________________Now available to pre-order: 20th Victim, the latest novel in the #1 bestselling Women's Murder Club seriesChristmas is coming, but crime never stops for the Women's Murder Club.Sergeant Lindsay Boxer is looking forward to spending time with her family over the holidays. But when she receives a tip-off that the biggest heist ever to hit San Francisco is being planned for Christmas Day, everything changes.The architect of the ambitious attack unleashes chaos across the city, laying traps and false alarms to distract Lindsay and the SFPD from his ultimate goal.As time runs out, will Lindsay be able to save the people of San Francisco from a Christmas they'd never forget?

Product Description \nUSA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday follows A Princess for Christmas with another delightful contemporary Christmas romance, set in the heart of New York City, about a playboy baron and a woman who has said goodbye to love.\n“[A] master of witty banter.”—Entertainment Weekly\nThere’s a royal wedding on, and things are about to get interesting.\nMeet the man of honor\nMaximillian von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon and heir to the Duke of Aquilla, is not having a merry Christmas. He’s been dumped by a princess, he’s unemployed, and his domineering father has sent him to New York to meet a prospective bride he has no interest in. In the city, he meets Dani Martinez, a smart (and gorgeous) professor he’s determined to befriend before their best friends marry in the Eldovian wedding of the century.\nMeet the best woman\nNewly single, no-nonsense New Yorker Dani is done with love—she even has a list entitled “Things I Will Never Again Do for a Man”—which is why she hits it off with notorious rake Max. He’s the perfect partner for snow angels in Central Park and deep conversations about the futility of love.\nIt’s all fun and games until their friendship deepens into attraction and, oops…\nFalling in love was never part of the plan.\n Review \n"This smashing sequel is packed with delightful characters, snappy dialogue, and a fairy-tale European setting. A top pick for every holiday romance reading list." --\nLibrary Journal (starred review)\\n"Holiday’s follow-up to \nA Princess for Christmas hits all the right notes as the heir to a dukedom discovers love during the holidays...Holiday cleverly draws parallels to \nLove, Actually throughout this witty, emotionally charged holiday tale. Readers will delight in the strong heroine seeking love on her own terms." --\nPublishers Weekly\\n"RITA-nominated Holiday follows\nA Princess for Christmas with another splendidly entertaining romance that offers just the right dash of holiday cheer and delectably droll wit." --\nBooklist\\n"Holiday’s knack for writing witty banter is on full display here, with Dani and Max's escalating text messages and phone conversations showing a deepening friendship between them... This slow-burn romance will appeal to readers who enjoy the friends-to-lovers trope. The novel carefully builds trust and a deepening emotional attachment between Dani and Max..." --\nKirkus Reviews\\n“\nA Princess for Christmas is a confection of a holiday plot with more steam than a cup of cocoa…a sugary, sexy delight full of [Holiday’s] signature delectable banter.” --\nEntertainment Weekly\\n“Delightfully sexy and sweet, Holiday knows how to deliver the perfect combination of sexual tension and happily-ever-after.” -- Lauren Layne,\nNew York Times bestselling author, on A Princess for Christmas\\n"In this enchanting story infused with humor, honesty, and heat, Jenny Holiday will make you fall in love with fairy tales all over again." -- Kelly Bowen, author of\nDuke of My Heart, on\nA Princess for Christmas\\n"A perfect combination of sweet and sexy moments makes\n A Princess for Christmas an unputdownable read!"\n -- Mia Sosa,\nUSA Today bestselling author of\nThe Worst Best Man\\n"A delight!\nA Princess for Christmas is warm, cozy, hopeful, and so funny! A charming opposites attract romance between a Princess and a cab driver, but what really shines here is Jenny Holiday's magical touch in creating deep, realistic characters who learn that anything is possible." -- Farah Heron, author of\nThe Chai Factor\\n"A Princess for Christmas is—in all the best ways—a Hallmark Christmas movie with the heat dial nudged deliciously higher. Loaded with wry humor, warmth, and just enough bittersweet emotion... I loved it." -- Olivia Dade, author of\nSpoiler Alert\\n"Jenny Holiday has crafted a smart, sexy, hilarious Christmas rom-com that made me laugh, cry, and then sigh with pure contentment. A Princess for Christmas is the perfect holiday treat that readers will want to curl up with and read

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Kristin Hannah is beloved by readers around the world for her unique blend of powerful emotion and exquisite storytelling. In Comfort & Joy, she offers a modern-day fairy tale—the story of a woman who gets a miraculous chance at happiness.Joy Candellaro once loved Christmas more than any other time of the year. Now, as the holiday approaches, she is at a crossroads in her life; recently divorced and alone, she can’t summon the old enthusiasm for celebrating. So without telling anyone, she buys a ticket and boards a plane bound for the beautiful Pacific Northwest. When an unexpected detour takes her deep into the woods of the Olympic rainforest, Joy makes a bold decision to leave her ordinary life behind—to just walk away—and thus begins an adventure unlike any she could have imagined.In the small town of Rain Valley, six-year-old Bobby O’Shea is facing his first Christmas without a mother. Unable to handle the loss, Bobby has closed himself off from the world, talking only to his invisible best friend. His father Daniel is beside himself, desperate to help his son cope. Yet when the little boy meets Joy, these two unlikely souls form a deep and powerful bond. In helping Bobby and Daniel heal, Joy finds herself again.But not everything is as it seems in quiet Rain Valley, and in an instant, Joy’s world is ripped apart, and her heart is broken. On a magical Christmas Eve, a night of impossible dreams and unexpected chances, Joy must find the courage to believe in a love—and a family—that can’t possibly exist, and go in search of what she wants . . . and the new life only she can find.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Café by the Sea—whose novels are “an evocative, sweet treat” (JOJO MOYES)—comes this heartwarming holiday novel set on a charming Scottish island.On the remote Scottish island of Mure, the Christmas season is stark, windy, and icy—yet incredibly festive and beautiful...It's a time for getting cozy in front of whisky barrel wood fires, and enjoying a dram and a treacle pudding with the people you love—unless, of course, you've accidentally gotten pregnant by your ex-boss, and don't know how to tell him. In the season for peace and good cheer, will Flora find the nerve to reveal the truth to her nearest and dearest? Will her erstwhile co-parent Joel think she’s the bearer of glad tidings—or is this Christmas going to be as bleak as the Highlands in midwinter?Meanwhile Saif, a doctor and refugee from war-torn Syria is trying to enjoy his first western Christmas with his sons on this remote island where he’s been granted asylum. His wife, however, is still missing, and her absence hangs over what should be a joyful celebration. Can the family possibly find comfort and joy without her?Travel to the beautiful northern edge of the world and join the welcoming community of Mure for a Highland Christmas you'll never forget! And warm up your kitchen with bonus recipes for the Little Beach Street Bakery’s seasonal shortbread, Lanark Blue Scones, and Black Buns.

David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favoritesas the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow"); the puzzling Christmas traditions of other nations ("Six to Eight Black Men"); what Halloween at the medical examiner's looks like ("The Monster Mash"); and a barnyard secret Santa scheme gone awry ("Cow and Turkey").No matter what your favorite holiday, you won't want to miss celebrating it with the author who has been called "one of the funniest writers alive" (Economist).

A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensEbenezer Scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children.But at Christmas three ghosts come to visit him, scare him into mending his ways, and he finds, as he celebrates with Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and their family, that geniality brings its own reward.This finest of all Christmas stories is beautifully illustrated with Arthur Rackham's superb line drawings.

Product Description \nThomas and Charlotte Pitt’s former maid takes a new job as Christmas approaches—but not everyone in the household may survive the holidays in this tension-filled novel from bestselling author Anne Perry.\\n“Perry’s Victorian-era holiday mysteries [are] an annual treat.”—The Wall Street Journal\\nAfter leaving her position with Charlotte and Thomas Pitt to get married, Gracie thought her days as a maid were behind her. But when her good friend’s daughter, Millie, turns up on her doorstep just before the holidays, frantic because things are going missing from the kitchen in the household she serves, Gracie knows she has to find out what is happening. Millie, whose mother died years before, can’t risk being accused of theft and getting thrown out on the street, with no character references for a new position.\\nSo Gracie takes on Millie’s job herself, claiming Millie is sick and needs a few days to recuperate. At first, it seems that all is normal in the household, even if the couple’s elderly granny keeps entirely to her bedroom upstairs. But Gracie begins to realize that Granny is suffering from neglect—and rather than helping her, the husband and wife have decided she isn’t dying fast enough.\n Review \nPraise for A Christmas Legacy\\n“This satisfying Christmas novella combines mystery, suspicion, upheaval, acts of kindness, and a Christmas miracle together to create a captivating story. . . . Anne Perry has once again created a Christmas tale that will captivate the reader and transport them straight to Victorian London during the holidays.”\n—Historical Novel Society\\n“[This book] helps remind you what the Christmas season is all about.”\n—Bookreporter\\n“Anne Perry’s [\nA Christmas Legacy] delights her fans with more details about her recurring characters. . . . [It’s] a charming look at what Christmas used to be while focusing on behavior that never seems to change.”\n—Great Mysteries and Thrillers\\n“[Anne Perry] writes these fun, uplifting Christmas stories to put a smile on your face. I am all in for anything that Anne Perry writes and this is another well-written book.”\n—Red Carpet Crash\\nPraise for the Christmas novels of Anne Perry\\nA Christmas Resolution\\n“Once again, Anne Perry has combined the classic elements of a mystery with the ageless sentiments of the yuletide season. A Christmas Resolution is another must-read for the holidays.”\n—BookreporterA Christmas Gathering“A short historical mystery from the absorbing Perry is an annual holiday tradition. Here, espionage mingles discreetly with classic British country-house huggermugger. . . . Rest assured that Christmas will nonetheless be a holiday of good cheer.”\n—The Seattle Times\\nA Christmas Revelation\\n“Perry slips in some good Dickensian details—and even a little Peaky Blinders–style grit—with her velvet-trimmed holiday spirit.”\n—Entertainment Weekly\\nA Christmas Return\\n“Exceptional . . . Perry unobtrusively incorporates insights about the true meaning of the season into the engrossing plot.”\n—Publishers Weekly (starred review)\\nA Christmas Message\\n“[Perry’s] characters have that larger-than-life quality that permeated so many classic films from the golden age of cinema.”\n—BookPage\\nA Christmas Escape\\n“Rivals the classic murder mysteries of Dame Agatha Christie . . . The suspense is built up so well.”\n—Bookreporter\n About the Author \nAnne Perry is the\nNew York Times bestselling author of eighteen previous holiday novels, as well as the William Monk series, the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, the Daniel Pitt series, the Elena Standish series, five World War I novels, and a work of historical fiction,\nThe Sheen on the Silk. Anne Perry lives in Los Angeles.\n Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. \n“How old are you?” Gracie asked sternly.\\n“I’m very almost six,” Charlie replied, taking her finger away from the mixing bowl in which Gracie was stirring the Christmas cake for the final time,

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROne Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners.It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark “downright hilarious” (Helen Hoang, author of The Bride Test) hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.

In a gloomy flat off Islington High Street, Chief Inspector Brett Nightingale and Sergeant Beddoes find an old woman dead. The Princess Olga Karukhin, who fled from Russia at the time of the Revolution, has lived in terror of being discovered ever since.Olga's grandson, Ivan, appears to have run from the scene, but is later seen returning to the flat as though oblivious to the terrible crime. Taking place between 22nd and 24th December, Nightingale's enquiry takes him across London, culminating in the wrapping of the mystery on Christmas Eve.This never-before-republished novel from 1958 has a noticeably different feel to the neat puzzles and country house mysteries of crime fiction's golden age, revealing the darker side of police detection in an evocative urban setting.

Before I Fall meets “bah, humbug” in this contemporary YA reimagining of A Christmas Carol from New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand.On Christmas Eve five years ago, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase was visited by three Ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. She didn’t. And then she died.Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge—as their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. So far, Holly’s afterlife has been miserable. But this year’s Scrooge is different. This year’s Scrooge might change everything…The Afterlife of Holly Chase is a witty, poignant, and insightful novel about life, love, and seizing second (or third) chances, perfect for readers who loved Before I Fall or Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares.

An uplifting, beautiful and totally heartwarming tale about the magic of family at Christmas, the importance of chasing your dreams, and the unbeatable feeling of falling in love under the mistletoe.Christmas is always the toughest holiday for Lila Evans––a heartbreaking reminder of losing her father… This year, she’s organized a cozy getaway with her closest friends. She might not have a family to call her own, but it should be just the remedy for the December blues.On the way to their festive vacation, Lila stops at a coffee shop in Pinewood Hills. But the rugged, surly owner Theo Perry doesn’t offer a warm small-town welcome. Despite her best efforts, Lila’s met with an icy reception.At least she has Fireside Cabins, tucked in the snowy Tennessee hills, to look forward to. Except it turns out to be far from a winter wonderland––there isn’t a shred of Christmas spirit in their tumbledown cabin and the owner, a widow named Eleanor Finely, confesses that the resort is on the brink of closure. Lila instantly wants to help––tearful Eleanor clearly has no one and Lila knows exactly how that feels…When a burst pipe floods their cabin, Lila turns to Theo for help. As much as his coldness infuriates her, she can’t deny that on the rare occasions when he does smile, it feels like coming home.As Lila does her best to bring some sparkle to Fireside Cabins, and to warm up frosty Theo, could Pinewood Hills hold her new beginning––and the family she’s always longed for? And, with a dusting of Christmas magic, spiced cider and sugarplum pie, could this be the first holiday she’s not alone?Indulge in this glittering page-turner that might just prove, at this magical time of year, that anything is possible… Christmas at Fireside Cabins is the perfect treat for fans of Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery and Sheila Roberts. Readers totally love Christmas at Fireside Cabins:“Wow, what a story!!… Simply put, I loved it!… The end had me needing the tissues, it was so heartwarming.” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I LOVED this one!… Jenny Hale has done it again – she made me fall even more in love with the bad boy and the holidays :-)… All adds up to the perfect read.” The Miron Monologues, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Oh, my heart. Sometimes you just NEED a feel-good, uplifting, heartwarming read… The writing is wonderful and had pangs running through my chest.” WattsYaReading, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Absolutely perfect… For anyone longing for the perfect dose of Christmas, look no further… I have never wanted to wrap myself in a soft blanket, with a cup of steaming hot cocoa and enjoy the lights of a Christmas tree more than I have after reading this book.” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Like a warm hug in a book… Pure escapism… Highly recommended for any fans of festive fiction. You will not be disappointed!” Goodreads Reviewer“THIS WAS SO CUTE! Sorry for the capital letters but I'm excited!” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Such a gorgeous festive story… Jenny Hale is the queen of Christmas stories for me! They just keep getting better.” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Jenny Hale is the gift that keeps on giving! Perfect escapism, in the most charming, magical, warm and cozy way… Tied together like a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift… Perfect read for fans of Hallmark movies and Christmas romance stories!” Books n Lattes, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how Charles Dickens revived the signal holiday of the Western world—now a major motion picture.Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

A New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of 2017“Nowhere is [Winterson’s] faith in the transporting power of storytelling more on display than in her new book, Christmas Days . . . dark, otherworldly and (trademark Winterson) wickedly funny . . . [a] holiday treasure . . . to be pulled out on a December night, fireside, and read aloud.” ―New York Times Book Review“If you crave the mystery, the family rituals, and the special victuals of Christmastime, you’ll savor . . . bold, revelatory feminist writer Jeanette Winterson’s Christmas Days.” ―ElleJeanette Winterson brings together twelve of her brilliantly imaginative, funny and bold Christmas stories, linked by personal memories and twelve delicious recipes for the Twelve Days of Christmas. From jovial spirits to a donkey with a golden nose, a haunted house to a SnowMama, Winterson’s innovative stories encompass the childlike and spooky wonder of Christmas. Enjoy the season of peace and goodwill, mystery, and a little bit of magic courtesy of one of our most fearless and accomplished writers.“Winterson has presented us with unexpected holiday cheer . . . perfect for stuffing the stockings of your eccentric relatives . . . The magical tales are all exuberant.” ―Washington Post“Funny, spooky stories for the Christmas season.” ―Los Angeles Times“A feast of stories . . . Winterson has wrapped up a holiday present between two covers.” ―NPR

The International Bestseller—A feel-good, holiday rom com about identical twins who swap lives twelve days before Christmas—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in DecemberAll they want for Christmas is a different life.When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell—both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family's bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won't get the memo that they're over.With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven't done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins' identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?

It's New Year's Eve in New York City. Your best friend died in September, you've been robbed twice, your girlfriend is leaving you, you've lost your job...and the only one left to talk to is the gay burglar you've got tied up in the kitchen... P.S. your cat is dead.An instant classic upon its initial publication, P.S. Your Cat is Dead received widespread critical acclaim and near fanatical reader devotion. The stage version of the novel was equally successful and there are still over 200 new productions of it staged every year. Now, for the first time in a decade, James Kirkwood's much-loved black humor comic novel of manners and escalating disaster returns to bewitch and beguile a new generation.

Charles Dickens's beloved tale of the Christmas spirit is beautifully presented in this deluxe new illustrated edition. Contemporary artist and illustrator Yelena Bryksenkova has created enchanting artwork to accompany Dickens's classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Gorgeous watercolors evoke the magic of a Victorian Christmas while simultaneously infusing this timeless text with a touch of modern-day whimsy. With gilded page edges and a satin ribbon marker, this lavish keepsake volume is tomorrow's cherished family heirloom—an essential holiday treasure to read year after year around the fire, under the tree, or with the plum pudding.

This year’s pageant is definitely like no other, but maybe that’s exactly what makes it so special.Laughs abound in this bestselling Christmas classic by Barbara Robinson! The Best Christmas Pageant Ever follows the outrageous shenanigans of the Herdman siblings, or “the worst kids in the history of the world.”The siblings take over the annual Christmas pageant in a hilarious yet heartwarming tale involving the Three Wise Men, a ham, scared shepherds, and six rowdy kids. You and your family will laugh along with this funny story, perfect for independent reading or read-aloud sharing.Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys Herdman are an awful bunch. They set fire to Fred Shoemaker’s toolshed, blackmailed Wanda Pierce to get her charm bracelet, and smacked Alice Wendelken across the head. And that’s just the start! When the Herdmans show up at church for the free snacks and suddenly take over the Christmas pageant, the other kids are shocked.It’s obvious that they’re up to no good. But Christmas magic is all around and the Herdmans, who have never heard the Christmas story before, start to reimagine it in their own way.

"I had so much fun reading Mangos and Mistletoe and now I want everyone else to read it too. This is Adriana Herrera's first f/f romance and I hope it's not her last..." -The Lesbian ReviewOne is grumpy. One is sunshine. There is only one bed.Kiskeya Burgos left the tropical beaches of the Dominican Republic with a lot to prove. As a pastry chef on the come up, when she arrives in Scotland, she has one goal in mind: win the Holiday Baking Challenge. Winning would prove to her family, her former boss, and most importantly to herself, that she can make it in the culinary world. Kiskeya will stop at nothing to win, that is if she can keep her eyes on the prize and off her infuriating teammate's perfect lips.Sully Morales, home cooking hustler, and self-proclaimed baking brujita lands in Scotland on a quest to find her purpose after spending years as her family's caregiver. But now, with her home life back on track, it's time for Sully to get reacquainted with her greatest love, baking. Winning the Holiday Baking Challenge is a no-brainer if she can convince her grumpy AF baking partner that they make a great team both in and out of the kitchen before an unexpected betrayal ends their chance at culinary competition glory."Get your sweet and sexy high-concept contemporary fix right here!" -The Seattle Review of BooksBuy this feel-good holiday romance now.

Celebrate forty years with this special edition of Rod Campbell's classic lift-the-flap book, Dear Zoo, with a host of favourite zoo animals and flaps to lift on every page.'I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet . . .'Young children will love lifting the flaps to discover the animals the zoo has sent – a monkey, a lion and even an elephant! But will they ever manage to send the perfect pet?Rod Campbell, the creator of preschool favourites including Oh Dear! and Noisy Farm, has been a trusted name in early learning for over forty years, and the perennial classic, Dear Zoo has been a firm favourite with toddlers and parents alike since its first publication in 1982. With bright, bold artwork, a catchy refrain and a whole host of favourite animals, Dear Zoo: 40th Anniversary Edition is a must for every child's bookshelf, and the thick card pages, chunky cased cover and sturdy flaps make it perfect for small hands.Look out for Rod Campbell's Look After Us, a lift-the-flap animal book for toddlers with a positive message about conservation.

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she's the real author. One day a letter she receives from the governor of the notorious Bedlam madhouse plunges her into an adventure more terrifying than anything she ever imagined - A thriller with a fast-paced cinematic style, Twelve Minutes to Midnight is an electrifying story from an exciting new author.

From the New York Timesand USA Todaybestselling How to Catch series comes a new, fantastical gingerbread man book that makes a funny gift for kids! Do you have what it takes to catch the Gingerbread Man? The famous storybook character has magically come to life and leapt from the pages during story time! Follow along as the Gingerbread Man runs loose in a bookstore with the help of Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Peter Rabbit, nursery rhyme characters, and more! If you set the right traps, you might...just mightbe able to catch this wily cookie and finish the fairy tale! Filled with zany STEAM traps, a silly story, and fun illustrations, this hilarious picture book is the perfect read aloud for parents, educators, and kids ages 4-10! When the storyteller starts to read, "Run, run, as fast as you can," I'm off in a start, and you'll have to be smart To catch me, the Gingerbread Man! Also in the How to Catch Series: How to Catch a Unicorn How to Catch a Mermaid How to Catch a Dragon How to Catch a Yeti How to Catch a Monster and more!

The timeless Christmas classic from the iconic Dr. Seuss!Read this favorite story of joy, love and acceptance anytime, anywhere! "The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason..." With a heart two sizes too small, the Grinch is the meanest creature you'll ever meet. He hates Christmas and the whole festive season. But when he hatches a dastardly plot to steal Christmas, he's in for a big surprise! With hilarious rhymes and beautiful illustrations, this classic seasonal story has become a favorite for good reason and teaches readers the true meaning of Christmas.

The Tailor of Gloucester was first published in 1903 and tells the story of a poor tailor trying to survive in his freezing workshop over a hard winter. He has a terribly important commission to complete for the Mayor of Gloucester's wedding on Christmas Day but is ill and tired, and before long is running out of food and thread, as well as time! How will he possibly complete the beautiful coat and embroidered waistcoat? Luckily, there lives in the dresser, some very kind and very resourceful mice who set about helping the poor tailor with his work. Not only are they exceedingly helpful, but they are also, luckily, far far too clever for the tailor's sly cat, Simpkin. The Tailor of Gloucester is number three in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books, the titles of which are as follows: 1 The Tale of Peter Rabbit 2 The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin 3 The Tailor of Gloucester 4 The Tale of Benjamin Bunny 5 The Tale of Two Bad Mice 6 The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle 7 The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher 8 The Tale of Tom Kitten 9 The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck 10 The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies 11 The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse 12 The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes 13 The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse 14 The Tale of Mr. Tod 15 The Tale of Pigling Bland 16 The Tale of Samuel Whiskers 17 The Tale of The Pie and the Patty-Pan 18 The Tale of Ginger and Pickles 19 The Tale of Little Pig Robinson 20 The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit 21 The Story of Miss Moppet 22 Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes 23 Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes

The New York City Ballet presents a classic ballet tale for a modern ballet lover with George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, a holiday favorite.The New York City Ballet is known for showcasing classic stories of the ballet with their trademark stylish and modern sensibility. For the first time, this beloved holiday story is told based on George Balanchine’s quintessential production. The storyline of this gorgeous picture book mimics the choreography of the famous ballet and the illustrations are inspired by the backdrops and scenery from the actual production.The New York City Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker is considered to be “the” leading production in the world. A holiday tradition for many families, now readers who can’t travel to New York will be able to experience this colorful celebratory story. A must-have for every aspiring ballerina’s library and a holiday tradition for every family’s bookshelf.

How is this book unique?Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) IllustratedAbout The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story, written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter), about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been a popular one for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its "twist ending" are well-known, and the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. It was allegedly written at Pete's Tavernon Irving Place in New York City.

Mistletoe, Maine, is buzzing and not just because Christmas is around the corner! Dante West, local cutie-turned-Hollywood hunk, is returning home to make his next movie. Everyone in town is excited . . . except librarian Lucy Marshall. When Dante took off for LA without warning--or even a goodbye--he broke Lucy's heart. She swore not to spend one more minute thinking about her ex, but Dante makes an offer Lucy's struggling library can't refuse: a major donation to film on-site. Dante is thrilled to help boost his hometown's economy and finally begin making amends to the people he hurt years ago when he left, starting with Lucy. But seeing his former best friend on set every day feels a lot less like closure and more like a fresh start. It's one thing for Dante to fall for Lucy all over again, quite another for a famous movie star and a small-town librarian to find lasting romance. Can the magic of the holiday season give Lucy and Dante's first love a second chance?

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, Winter Solstice (the basis for the TV movie) is the story of five unforgettable characters, lonely and haunted strangers who find love and loyalty as a reborn family of friends during the Christmas holidays.Elfrida Phipps, once of London’s stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village life―shopkeepers knowing her tastes, neighbors calling her by name―still she finds herself lonely.Oscar Blundell gave up his life as a musician in order to marry Gloria. They have a beautiful daughter, Francesca, and it is only because of their little girl that Oscar views his sacrificed career as worthwhile.Carrie returns from Austria at the end of an ill-fated affair with a married man to find her mother and sister sharing a home and squabbling endlessly. With Christmas approaching, Carrie agrees to look after her sister's awkward and quiet teenage daughter, Lucy, so that her mother might enjoy a romantic fling in America.Sam Howard is trying to pull his life back together after his wife has left him for another. He is without home and without roots, all he has is his job. Business takes him to northern Scotland, where he falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and set his sights on a house.It is the strange rippling effects of a tragedy that will bring these five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan.

Before there was Santa Claus, there was a young boy who believed in the impossible. . . . Lemony Snicket meets Klaus in this cheeky, Christmas classic-in-the-making that sparkles with wit and warmth!Now a Netflix movie starring Kristen Wiig, Maggie Smith and Henry Lawfull!Eleven-year-old Nikolas–nicknamed "Christmas"–has received only one toy in his life: a doll carved out of a turnip. But he's happy with his turnip doll, because it came from his parents, who love him. Then one day his father goes missing, and Nikolas must travel to the North Pole to save him.Along the way, Nikolas befriends a surly reindeer, bests a troublesome troll, and discovers a hidden world of enchantment in the frozen village of Elfhelm. But the elves of Elfhelm have troubles of their own: Christmas spirit and goodwill are at an all-time low, and Nikolas may be the only person who can fix things-if only he can reach his father before it's too late. . . ."Irresistibly readable. Destined to become a Christmas and anytime-before-or-after-Christmas classic!" – Chris Grabenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library"The definitive (and funny) history of ho, ho, ho! My children loved it." – Yann Martel, bestselling author of Life of Pi"Matt Haig has an empathy for the human condition, the light and the dark of it, and he uses the full palette to build his excellent stories." – Neil Gaiman, Newbery-winning author of The Graveyard Book

Product Description \nThe instant New York Times bestseller!\n“Sublime…Colgan infuses her latest book with humor, wit, suspense and a perfectly cast love triangle.”--USA Today\nPerfect for the holidays! A brand-new heartwarming Christmas novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner and Christmas at the Island Hotel. \nLaid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal.\nFrankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job.\nThrown rather suddenly into the inner workings of Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the picturesque streets of historic Edinburgh, Carmen is intrigued despite herself. The store is dusty and disorganized but undeniably charming. Can she breathe some new life into it in time for Christmas shopping? What will happen when a famous and charismatic author takes a sudden interest in the bookshop—and Carmen? And will the Christmas spirit be enough to help heal her fractured family?\n Review \n"Colgan’s new Edinburgh-set Christmas novel is full of references to books, descriptions of the twisty insides of a bookshop, and fun details about Scotland, Quakerism, and the centuries-old Great Yew Tree of Ormiston. Get ready to root for these charming characters as they bungle their way toward a merry Christmas."“ --\nLibrary Journal (starred review)\\n“An evocative sweet treat.” -- Jojo Moyes on\nLittle Beach Street Bakery\\n“Funny, magical and moving.” --\nTime Out on\nLittle Beach Street Bakery\\n“The perfect escape.” --\nWoman (UK) on\nChristmas at the Cupcake Café\\n“This tale is even sweeter than the first. Festive and charming, it’s another triumph for Jenny Colgan.” --\nCosmopolitan (UK) on\nChristmas at the Cupcake Café\\n“A bright, lighthearted romantic comedy ready for filming.” --\nKirkus Reviews on\n500 Miles from You\\n“Sublime…Colgan infuses her latest book with humor, wit, suspense and a perfectly cast love triangle.” --\nUSA Today\n About the Author \nJenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Café by the Sea, The Bookshop on the Corner, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Christmas on the Island. Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland.

Product Description \nLet It Snow meets Dash and Lily's Book of Dares in this new small-town Christmas romance.\\nWhen Finley Brown returned to her hometown of Christmas, Oklahoma, from boarding school, she expected to find it just as she left it. Christmas hasn't changed much in her sixteen years. But instead she returns to find that her best friend is dating her ex-boyfriend, her parents have separated, and her archnemesis got a job working at her grandmother's inn. And she certainly didn't expect to find the boy she may or may not have tricked into believing that Christmas was an idyllic holiday paradise on her grandmother's doorstep. It's up to Finley to make sure he gets the Christmas he was promised. This is Finley's Christmas. It's about home and family and friends and finding her place, and along the way she also finds the best Christmas present of all: love.\n From School Library Journal \nGr 8 Up-Finley is home for winter break from her boarding school in New England in her aptly named hometown, Christmas, Oklahoma. Being back home brings up sore memories, as Finley's ex-boyfriend is now dating her friend, and Finley did not do as well as she should have during her first semester away. To top things off, a fellow classmate, Arthur Chakrabarti Watercress, arrives with his grandmother to see the local wonders all because Finley fibbed about some fantastical holiday attractions via the town's actual lackluster website. Arthur threatens to reveal the charade to their classmates when they return if he does not get the Christmas he promised his grandmother. This romance follows the enemies-to-lovers trope as Arthur, while insufferable at first, begins to grow on Finley despite his blackmailing attempts as more drama and high jinks ensue over the winter holiday break. Readers who enjoy twists and turns before the ultimate happy ending will enjoy this one, which includes tantalizing characters back and plenty of drama, all set against a cozy holiday backdrop. VERDICT This makes for a solid purchase where holiday-themed romances and dramatic realistic fiction for teens are popular.-Molly Dettmann, Norman North H.S., OKα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.\n About the Author \nTracy Andreen was born in Southern California but raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in Journalism and Professional Writing then promptly moved to Los Angeles where she spent many years in the world of film development, employed at Amblin/DreamWorks and Mandalay Pictures, among others. She began her paid writing career when she took it upon herself to revise some properties in development at Mandalay and ultimately left that side of the film world to pursue writing full time. In her spare time, she enjoys staring at her fantasy football lineup, hiking, gardening, perusing homes on Zillow, and making some amazingly cool candles that you totally would buy if only she would at long last set up that website.\n Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. \nFive\n“Are you serious?” I stared at my grandmother in disbelief.\nWe were in the alcove near the kitchen and I’d just taken off my apron, my thoughts firmly on the idea of going upstairs to take a nap. It’d been a long day and it was still only four in the afternoon.\nInstead, my grandmother found me and asked me a favor.\n“Yes,” she said. “Arthur wants to buy some appropriate attire for the reindeer farm.”\n“What’s appropriate for a reindeer farm?”\n“Jeans, I suppose.”\n“He doesn’t have jeans?” I asked, incredulous.\n“Not here, apparently.”\nActually, I could totally see that. But still. “Why do I have to go with him, though? What about his aunt?”\n“Esha is feeling the effects of jet lag and wants to take a quick nap”—Me too, I silently shouted—“before dinner, but she also doesn’t want Arthur to go by himself.”\n“He’s seventeen,” I tried to reason

In this magical debut, a couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep.Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Amateur sleuth Mrs Bradley investigates a puzzling Christmas crime in this classic mystery, first published in 1936 as Dead Men’s Morris

Strega Nona returns with her bumbling assistant, Big Anthony, and Bambolona, the baker’s daughter, in time for the big Christmas Eve feast.

Now a Netflix Original Film!#1 New York Times bestsellerAn ill-timed storm on Christmas Eve buries the residents of Gracetown under multiple feet of snow and causes quite a bit of chaos. One brave soul ventures out into the storm from her stranded train, setting off a chain of events that will change quite a few lives. Over the next three days one girl takes a risky shortcut with an adorable stranger, three friends set out to win a race to the Waffle House (and the hash brown spoils), and the fate of a teacup pig falls into the hands of a lovesick barista. A trio of today’s bestselling authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—brings all the magic of the holidays to life in three hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and kisses that will steal your breath away.“A comedy as delicious as any whipped up by the Bard.” —Washington Post Book World

A beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana—the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film and the live musical on Fox. The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”? The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.

"There's plenty to love in this sparkling Christmas rom-com."--Publishers Weekly A magical holiday love story set at the glamorous Plaza Hotel in New York City. It's Christmas week when 26-year-old Sabrina Post knocks on the door of the Vanderbilt suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, ready to accept the ghostwriting position for the memoir of Grayson Westcott--a famous art dealer. A struggling journalist, Sabrina can't believe her luck: a paycheck and six nights in her own suite at the Plaza. She feels like Eloise, the heroine from her favorite children's books. To make the job even more exciting, Grayson recounts how he worked as a butler at the Plaza sixty years ago for none other than the author of the Eloise books, Kay Thompson. What promises to be a perfect week is complicated when Sabrina meets Ian Wentworth, a handsome British visitor, at the hotel bar. When Ian assumes Sabrina is another wealthy guest at the hotel, she doesn't correct him --a decision she doesn't regret after learning that Ian is a member of the British aristocracy. But, things are not what they seem. The truth is: Ian is not a wealthy lord; he's actually the personal secretary of Lord Spencer Braxton. As the week unfolds, will Sabrina and Ian learn the truth about one another? Filled with the magic that can only be found at the Plaza Hotel during the holidays, and revealing facts about the author of the Eloise books, Anita Hughes's A Magical New York Christmas is both a holiday treat and a heartwarming story that reminds us that falling in love is the greatest miracle of all.

One of six beloved Christmas classics in collectible hardcover editionsWritten in 1831 by the father of Russian literature, this uproarious tale tells of the blacksmith Vakula’s battle with the devil, who has stolen the moon and hidden it in his pocket, allowing him to wreak havoc on the village of Dikanka. Both the devil and Vakula are in love with Oksana, the most beautiful girl in Dikanka. Vakula is determined to win her over; the devil, equally determined, unleashes a snowstorm to thwart Vakula’s efforts. Zany and mischievous, and drawing inspiration from the folk tales of Gogol’s far-flung village in Ukraine, The Night Before Christmas is the basis for many movie and opera adaptations, and is still read aloud to children on Christmas Eve in Ukraine and Russia.Penguin Christmas ClassicsGive the gift of literature this Christmas.Penguin Christmas Classics honor the power of literature to keep on giving through the ages. The six volumes in the series are not only our most beloved Christmas tales, they also have given us much of what we love about the holiday itself. A Christmas Carol revived in Victorian England such Christmas hallmarks as the Christmas tree, holiday cards, and caroling. The Yuletide yarns of Anthony Trollope popularized throughout the British Empire and around the world the trappings of Christmas in London. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus created the origin story for the presiding spirit of Christmas as we know it. The holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott shaped the ideal of an American Christmas. The Night Before Christmas brought forth some of our earliest Christmas traditions as passed down through folk tales. And The Nutcracker inspired the most famous ballet in history, one seen by millions in the twilight of every year.Beautifully designed hardcovers—with foil-stamped jackets, decorative endpapers, and nameplates for personalization—in a small trim size that makes them perfect stocking stuffers, Penguin Christmas Classics embody the spirit of giving that is at the heart of our most time-honored stories about the holiday.Collect all six Penguin Christmas Classics:A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensChristmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories by Anthony TrollopeThe Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank BaumA Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May AlcottThe Night Before Christmas by Nikolai GogolThe Nutcracker by E. T. A. HoffmannFor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianIn this delightful holiday-themed collection of nine short stories, Inspector Maigret must solve a series of little mysteries—just in time for Christmas morningChristmas mysteries abound in this light-hearted holiday collection of Jules Maigret’s exploits: In one, an otherwise sensible little girl insists that she has seen Father Christmas, a statement alarming to her neighbors, Monsieur and Madame Maigret. Then, a choirboy helps the inspector solve a crime while he lies in bed with a cold; another boy, pursued by a criminal, ingeniously leaves a trail to help Maigret track him. Many of these stories feature observant and resourceful children, frightened yet resolute, who bring out a paternal streak in the childless Maigret.The rapport between the inspector and these youthful heroes imparts a delightful freshness to this holiday collection. A Maigret Christmas is a cornucopia for fans of Maigret and mysteries alike.

For readers of Richard Paul Evans and Greg Kincaid comes The 13th Gift, a heartwarming Christmas story about how a random act of kindness transformed one of the bleakest moments in a family's history into a time of strength and love.After the unexpected death of her husband, Joanne Huist Smith had no idea how she would keep herself together and be strong for her three children--especially with the holiday season approaching. But 12 days before Christmas, presents begin appearing on her doorstep with notes from their "True Friends." As the Smiths came together to solve the mystery of who the gifts were from, they began to thaw out from their grief and come together again as a family. This true story about the power of random acts of kindness will warm the heart, a beautiful reminder of the miracles of Christmas and the gift of family during the holiday season.

One broken heart, ten blind dates―and a whole lot of confusion!\\n"POSITIVELY DELIGHTFUL-all caps-from beginning to end." - NPR\\n"This piece-by-piece romance doesn't need its Christmas theme to sell, but it makes it glitter all the more." - Booklist\\nSophie wants one thing for Christmas―a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship.\\nHeartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents’ house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That’s when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.\\nWhen Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she’s started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.\\nThis is going to be the worst Christmas break ever . . . or is it?

An Esquire “Best Christmas Book to Read During the Holidays”A collection of Christmas stories written by African-American journalists, activists, and writers from the late 19th century to the modern civil rights movement.Back in print for the first time in over a decade, this landmark collection features writings from well-known black writers, activists, and visionaries such as Pauline Hopkins, Langston Hughes, and John Henrik Clarke along with literary gems from rediscovered writers. Originally published in African American newspapers, periodicals, and journals between 1880 and 1953, these enchanting Christmas tales are part of the black literary tradition that flourished after the Civil War.Edited and assembled by esteemed historian Dr. Bettye Collier-Thomas, the short stories and poems in this collection reflect the Christmas experiences of everyday African Americans and explore familial and romantic love, faith, and more serious topics such as racism, violence, poverty, and racial identity. Featuring the best stories and poems from previous editions along with new material including “The Sermon in the Cradle” by W. E. B. Du Bois, A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories celebrates a rich storytelling tradition and will be cherished by readers for years to come.