Book review: Christmas books for all the family

From a warm-hearted retelling of the birth of Jesus and an extra special Gruffalo gift set to Christmas poems, yuletide romance, colouring books for grown-ups, quirky cartoons and a sparkling annual for Strictly fans, the glittering line-up is a fantastic festive treat.

Adults and teens:

A New York Christmas by Anne Perry

Put a log on the fire, curl up on the sofa and immerse yourself in a winter-warming yuletide novella from Anne Perry.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without one of Perry’s irresistible little books – two-hour feasts of history, mystery and the traditional Christian messages of love, hope and goodwill to all men.

These life-affirming, atmospheric stories focus on individual characters from Perry’s two best-selling crime series featuring Thomas Pitt and William Monk, and this year we head off to New York City in 1904 in the company of 23-year-old Jemima Pitt, daughter of Thomas Pitt, head of Britain’s Special Branch.

Jemima is travelling as a companion to Delphinia (Phinnie) Cardew who is to marry the aristocratic Brent Albright in a high-society New York wedding, a grand affair that will join together two fabulously wealthy families.

Missing from the festivities is Phinnie’s mother Maria who abandoned her daughter 16 years ago and now the Albrights refuse to mention her name. But when Harley, the groom’s charismatic brother, asks Jemima to help him search for Maria to prevent any scandal if she suddenly turned up at the wedding, she agrees to assist him.

From Hell’s Kitchen to Fifth Avenue, the Lower East Side to Central Park, Jemima trudges through strange, snowy streets, asking questions but getting few answers, and never suspecting that she is walking into mortal danger…

Love, betrayal, greed, murder and selfless devotion all play their part in a moving story that captures the frailty of human nature and the true spirit of Christmas.

The perfect stocking filler for discerning crime fans…

(Headline, hardback, £16.99)

Christmas in the Snow by Karen Swan

Love transcends both time and place in a gorgeous, snow-filled story from Karen Swan, an author who has become the queen of Christmas novels. Following on from her best-selling Christmas at Tiffany’s and Christmas at Claridge’s comes another captivating, twisting and turning journey to glamorous destinations, magical mystery and heart-stopping romance. In London, the snow is falling and Christmas is just around the corner but Allegra Fisher barely has time to notice. She’s pitching for the biggest deal of her career and can’t afford to fail. And when she meets attractive stranger Sam Kemp on the plane trip to the Zurich meeting, she can’t afford to lose her focus either. She learned to shut off her emotions long ago and only her sister and best friend Isobel knows why. But when Allegra finds herself up against Sam for the bid, their passion quickly turns sour. Meanwhile, in Zermatt in the Swiss Alps, a long-lost mountain hut is discovered in the snow after 60 years and the last person expecting to become involved is Allegra who hasn’t even heard of the woman they found inside. But it soon becomes clear the two women are linked and, as she and Isobel try to make sense of the mystery, hearts thaw and dark secrets are uncovered, long buried by the snow. This is Christmas escapism at its best… lashings of romance, a sprinkling of intrigue and mountains of snow! Bliss…

(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

A Nantucket Christmas by Nancy Thayer

Family and relationships also take centre stage in a captivating seasonal story from popular US author Nancy Thayer. Here she transports us to enchanting Nantucket Island in Massachusetts where the winter time holiday season is nothing short of enchanting, from decorations on the Brant Point lighthouse to the yearly Christmas Stroll. Newly married Nicole Somerset can’t wait to spend her first festive season on Nantucket with her husband, handsome former attorney Sebastian. But the mood is quickly soured when Sebastian’s daughter Kennedy returns for the holidays without a hint of cheer. Determined to keep Nicole at arm’s length – or, better still, out of the picture altogether – Kennedy schemes to sabotage everything. But Nicole is not about to let anyone tarnish her first Christmas with her new family... can she turn things around before it’s too late? Packed with high emotion, the wonders of Christmas and magical romance, this short, sweet read is the ideal way to start the holiday season.

(Headline, paperback, £7.99)

Past Encounters by Davina Blake

There’s romance with a fascinating local theme in Lancashire author Davina Blake’s Past Encounters which sweeps us away to Carnforth railway station and the set of 1945 iconic film Brief Encounter. The station and its famous refreshment room take centre stage again in a beautiful, heartbreaking story of a couple caught up in the cruel winds of war, battered by the fickleness of fate and imprisoned by secrets from the past. Blake takes us on an emotional journey from the atmospheric wintertime filming to the extraordinary Great March of prisoners of war through snowbound Germany in the final year of the Second World War in a moving story that pays a poignant tribute to the suffering of forgotten wartime heroes and explores the heavy price paid by families torn apart by separation and conflict.

(CreateSpace, paperback, £8.99)

My True Love Gave to Me

Edited by Stephanie Perkins

And how about a ‘true love’ gift for teenagers? Edited by Stephanie Perkins, a much-loved American author of scrumptious teen reads, this gorgeous collection of 12 romantic stories, all set around the festive period, have been written by some of the most talented and exciting young adult authors around today. Brimming with the magic of first love, the joy of the Christmas holidays and featuring a ribbon marker and fashionably pink-sprayed edges, this winter warmer includes big names like Ally Carter, Holly Black, Laini Taylor, David Levithan, Gayle Forman and Stephanie Perkins herself. This is a wonderfully eclectic mix of stories emanating from all sections of society and backgrounds. Joy, wonder, disappointment, anger and love… the characters reflect young people everywhere and their different experiences of Christmas time. The perfect gift to read and treasure.