With less than a week to go, Christmas festivities are nearly upon us! The holidays are a great time to try and catch a breath from work, focus on yourself and relax.
One of the best ways to experience this sense of calm is reading.
Luckily for you, dear reader, Brig compiled together the perfect list of books that you can indulge yourself in this winter holiday. Let’s begin!
The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
This feel-good novel follows two sisters, Sofia and Carmen.
Carmen loses her job at a local department store and moves in with Sofia and her children, who live in Edinburgh. Sofia mentions an opportunity at a bookstore, which she does not mention is failing and impossible to save. Reluctantly (Carmen has never been good at accepting help), she takes the job.
Sofia also failed to mention that if Carmen can’t help turn things around for the bookstore before Christmas, the owner will be forced to sell. Privately, Sofia is sure it will take more than a miracle to save the store, but miracles happen at Christmas after all…
It’s a heart-warming book to enjoy over a cup of hot chocolate. It’ll give you that fuzzy feeling we all crave during winter! Also, if you’re a fan of the good ol’ love triangle trope, then this book is definitely for you.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Set in a small Irish town in 1985, Small Things Like These is a tender historical fiction which follows a coal and timber merchant, Bill Furlong. Christmas is Bill’s busiest season, and as he makes his rounds around the town, the past rises to meet him and he confronts the truth of one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries.
Definitely get the tissues ready if you choose to read this book – times are hard in this Irish town, and economic depression is settling in. People are struggling and are being driven from their homes into the cities to find decent jobs.
Nonetheless, it is a wonderful and emotional story about family, hope, quiet heroism and empathy. It’s an untraditional book to read to get into the Christmas spirit, but you finish it feeling grateful and full of love.
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
Speaking of untraditional Christmas reads, The Christmas Appeal is another great example!
Dubbed the “modern Agatha Christie”, Hallett explores crime, mystery and Christmas in one beautiful package. This immersive novella follows the Fairway Players theatre group as they put on a Christmas play of Jack and the Beanstalk, and solve a murder that threatens their production.
If you’re looking for a book with humour on the side of mystery, then it’s the one for you!
Hallett has written the first book, The Appeal, which features the same characters. However, you don’t need to have read that one to understand the plot of The Christmas Appeal.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Now, this is a favourite of mine. A stunning comfort book for any time of year, but especially Christmas.
Set during the American Civil War, Little Women follows the March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy – and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. They go through many ups and downs in life and make significant decisions that affect their future.
The book starts and ends with Christmas; it’s an important holiday for the March family and within the book. It’s overall a cosy, delightful and happy story, despite the heaviness of war and death. I couldn’t recommend it enough.
The Christmas Castle in Scotland by Julie Caplin
Izzy McBride had never expected to inherit a castle, of all things. But here she was. In the run-up to Christmas, she became the Monarch of her own Glen – a quite rundown glen – which she dreamt of turning into a hotel.
But when Izzy’s mother rents a room to mystifying thriller author, Ross Adair, and the Scottish snow starts to settle like the frosting on a Christmas cake, it’s a race to get the castle ready before they’re all snowed in for the holidays.
The Scottish Highlands are the perfect scenery for Christmas and romance. This book is the embodiment of a warm hug, and with Caplin’s stunning writing, you’re transported to the castle and experience it all first-hand.
Well, there you have it. If any of the books stood out to you and you choose to give one a go, let us know your thoughts on it!
Featured Image Credit: Pexels
A 23 year old aspiring writer.
News Editor at Brig Newspaper, 23/24. / Comment Editor, 22/23.
Msc International Journalism.
Founder of https://midwaymagazine.co.uk/
