Hello booklovers,

Behind today’s Advent door we indulge in some festive poetry by the one and only Carol Ann Duffy.

My Christmas has been wildly improved by the knowledge that Carol Ann Duffy has brough out a new festive poem this year. Advent Street, like our own bookish advent calendar, invites readers to open each window in Advent street – and hiding behind each is a precious gift.

I have been the lucky recipient of Carol Ann’s festive poems at Christmastime for years, and the news of her new work made me want to revisit my collection. Each is a delight – Dorothy Wordsworth’s Christmas Birthday captures the waiting and the wonder of Christmas Eve; The Christmas Truce  imagines that infamous Christmas of 1914, where peace ruled the day over war; The Wren Boys takes us to an Irish Boxing Day, where out into the cold and the wind come the Wren Boys on their hunt for the eponymous bird. There are plenty of others to choose from, all beautifully formed in square tomes with gorgeous illustrations. I look forward to adding the latest poetic offering to my treasured collection, and I hope you will too.

Bookish best,

Imogen

Hello booklovers,

Today we indulge in a rather gorgeous picture book by Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew – Gaspard’s Christmas.

Gaspard’s Christmas has the look and feel of a classic festive story – yet it was only published this year! Perhaps it is the marvelous combination of sweet central characters, timeless themes and beautiful illustrations that makes this feel like a traditional part of my festive bookish repertoire already.

Gaspard the fox is on his nightly roam around London when he discovers an old man asleep in a bus stop. He is freezing, homeless and not very well. Gaspard rallies his animal pals and together they get their new friend – Nikolas – to the safety and warmth of a local centre for homeless people where he is cared for. A hot shower and a hot meal restores him and access to the internet means he can contact his family. Thanks to Gaspard, he won’t spend Christmas alone.

Whilst this is a playful read, it still packs a punch. Access to hot water, hot food, the internet, spending time with my nearest and dearest at special times of year – these are all things I take for granted and yet for so many they are a rarity, or not accessible at all.  Given current circumstances, and the suffering and sadness experienced by so many at the moment, this feels even more stark. However the kindness of Gaspard and his friends shows the common thread that runs through us all in the tough times and the good: kindness.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

We treat you today to some historical fiction set during the Christmas season, The Silent Stars Go By by Sally Nicholls. 

Sally Nicholls is one of the finest historical writers for children and young adults out there. I love her ‘A Christmas in Time’ series, but have chosen the thoughtful and nuanced ‘The Silent Stars Go By’ as todays choice.

Set in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, this book conveys with painful clarity the scarring effect of war on communities and families, with the festive season bringing this to the surface. Painful secrets have been buried in shallow graves and the awful ramifications of what were good intentions are brewing. Three years ago, Margot’s life was turned upside down when her fiance, Harry, went missing in action on the Western Front, leaving her with a dark secret, difficult to conceal from her family. Christmas 1919 has wheeled round and all the family return for Christmas for the first time since the end of the war. It is not only a family reunion for Margot, but a romantic one, as Harry reappears once more, hoping to rekindle their relationship.

An interesting historical need, revealing fascinating details about the lives and roles of women in post-war society, with some lovely period details about Christmases past to boot.

Festive wishes,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

Today’s merry offering is The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Sit back and relax for some meditative, seasonal food writing.

A delightful compendium of wintery musings, recipes and anecdotes in Nigel’s trademark thoughtful writing style. He takes us from Autumn to March with a potent mix of family stories, seasonal observations topped off with ideas for tasty treats and delicious recipes for Christmastime. You can also enjoy listening to Nigel’s mellifluous narration via audiobook. Enough to cheer even the most world weary, offering a fresh perspective on a special time of year.

Bookish best,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

Advent treat number 7 is here – today we are delighted to bring you Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. 

You can’t escape the fact that times are tough at the moment, both globally and locally, sometimes made all the harder at this time of year where jollity pervades every aspect of daily life, on the radio, in the shops and on the TV. Christmas is a nice escape from reality but real life does go on – and for anyone living through testing times, Wintering by Katherine May should be prescribed reading. Using the metaphor of the seasons, Katherine gently suggests how the ‘winters’ of our lives – the aftermath of testing times – should be filled with moments of rest and repair so that we can come back anew, like flowers, birds and animals do as Spring rolls around once more.

Comforting and soul nourishing, this is a book for anyone who needs to retreat from normal life and from the festivities for a while.

Wintery best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

So far we have looked at books dedicated to Christmas and festive traditions – however the festive season also works its way into classic novels. Behind today’s Advent door we have hidden Emma by Jane Austen, where one of the funniest scenes in the book takes place on Christmas Eve.

The evening itself is already on tenterhooks – the Woodhouse family and respective friends, including local vicar Mr Elton, have been invited to dine at their neighbours, the Westons. Such an event is met with a mixed response: Mr Woodhouse, Emma’s father, is making the highly unusual move of venturing out on such a cold night and Harriet Smith, Emma’s close friend, is laid up in bed with a sore throat. Emma’s sister, Isobella, is loath to leave her children and brother in law, Mr John Knightley, seemingly finds the invitation itself a mark of arrogance. ‘A man’ said he, ‘must have a very good opinion of himself when he asks people to leave their own fireside, and encounter such a day as this, for the sake of coming to see him’, of course entirely missing the point of the Weston’s invitation to join them in good cheer and good food (but in truth, who hasn’t had this thought cross their mind when all you want to do is stay in for an evening with some Baileys and your jammies?!) Moreover, during the course of the evening it dawns on Emma that, despite her machinations, Mr Elton may well be in love with her, rather than the poor, sore throated Harriet Smith. And all the while, the snow comes down, heavier and heavier.

In the advent of falling snow and anxious guests, the merry bunch must make an abrupt departure from the Westons warm hearth – it is in this moment of exit that Emma finds herself alone in a carriage with Mr Elton, the rest of her family having merrily scooted off to beat the snow. She finds ‘her subject cut up – her hand seized – her attention demanded’ as Mr Elton declares his ‘ardent attachment and unequalled love and unexampled passion’, which Emma swiftly and disbelievingly rejects. Awkwardness and silence ensues, much to the horror of Emma and the delight of the reader.

Austen looks closely at the miniate of human behaviour, gently pointing out the resentments and pleasures associated with the season and how gathering a group of people at Christmas is a microcosm of wider human society. Wonderful reading to be indulged in during the Christmas break.

Festive wishes,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

For our 5th bookish Advent treat, we bring you the spine tingling, chill ridden The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights.

Alongside all the jollity and partying, this time of year is also associated with slower pleasures like storytelling… specifically ghost stories – a tradition inextricably linked with writer and academic M.R James, who wrote ghost stories to read aloud with friends and colleagues on Christmas Eve. His stories were frightening because of their contemporary settings, adding a realism to a genre previously laden with gothic tropes. The Haunting Season takes on the mantle with great aplomb, featuring spooky short stories, many with contemporary resonance, from authors such as Laura Purcell, Kiran Millwood-Hargrave and Elizabeth Macneal.

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of Christmas why not gather your loved ones and come together to share a tall, sometimes terrifying tale from this collection? You can read each story from the safety of your cosy fireside but be warned – the uncanny is much closer than you think, particularly at this time of year…

Yuletide wishes,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

 

Hello booklovers,

We welcome you through Advent door number four and into the delightful world of Brambly Hedge in Winter Story by Jill Barklem.

There are some books from childhood which, upon re-reading them, helps you understand yourself a little bit more. After flicking through my Brambly Hedge treasury in search of this sweet seasonal tale, it became clear to me that my love of the countryside, of crafting and of home comes from poring over the Brambly Hedge stories from a very young age. Jill Barklem’s intricate illustrations build a detailed world of the inhabitants of Brambly Hedge, blending nature drawing with homely small details, such as patchwork quilts, fine china and four poster beds. I remember being delighted by such details and now find myself emulating them in my own home.

The Winter Story in particular is a favourite of mine and never fails to make me feel cosy. Snowflakes, open fires, chestnut soup, everygreen decorations – we have it all. We join the Brambly Hedge community in the depths of winter as they wake up one morning to discover heavy snow has surrounded their tree trunk homes. Rather than the human response to this – closed schools, icy roads and doom and gloom – the mice throw a ‘Snow Ball’ and rush into the preparations. There is much merriment, stringing up of crab apples and other decorations and preparing of food. The Snow Ball itself looks like a blast, with well dressed mice whizzing and skidding all over the ballroom floor before retiring to their cosy beds, exhausted.

Festive wishes,

The Felixstowe Book Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

I hope you are feeling hungry – hiding behind today’s advent door, smelling of cinnamon, clove and sugar is Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas by Anja Dunk

Advent is a time of preparation for the festive celebrations to come, with four whole weeks of anticipation for Christmas celebrations. It is a time of anticipation, tradition, and light. In Germany Advent is synonymous with the start of winter – as soon as scarves, coats and gloves are dug out, so are the festive recipe books, sugars and spices. If you enjoy baking Christmassy treats then this may well be for you – read through for different types of Lebkuchen, Stollen and for decoration ideas too, such as a traditional salt dough wreath.

This book is not so much a cookbook as it is a history of a culture’s food – alongside mouth watering recipes, you learn all about festive German traditions, such as the making of Bunter Tellers, a colourful plate of advent biscuits that family, friends and neighbours give each other over the course of Advent to extend the hand of friendship. How bloomin’ lovely is that?

Yuletide wishes,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

Behind Advent door number two you will find… Mistletoe and Murder by Carola Dunn.

Daisy Dalrymple is the daughter of a Viscount, who has shocked her mother by marrying a widowed policeman and working as a journalist writing articles for Town & Country magazine. Wherever Daisy finds herself she finds a body too, and much to the frustration of her husband, cannot resist investigating

It is Christmas 1923 and Daisy is writing a story about a country house owned by her distant cousin, Lord Westmoor. Daisy and her family are invited by Lord Westmoor to spend Christmas at his ancestral estate with a rich history of ghost stories, rumours of hidden treasure, secret passageways, and a family seething with resentments.

This is a country house murder mystery enlivened by period details and Daisy’s delicious insights e.g. the following exchange between Daisy and her husband, about a fellow guest:

“You know, I’m a bit surprised he let his daughter marry a man whose legitimacy was in doubt.”
“I daresay he despaired of getting her off his hands.”
“Don’t be beastly, darling. She can’t help her teeth.”

This is not great literature by any means, but it’s a lot of fun and just perfect for a cosy read during the Christmas holiday.

Bookish best,

Jan and the festival team x