Looking for a Christmas read

My vote too, for “how far to Bethlehem”!

Me too WWM2. I don't know why but I do!

I like a 1930s Christmas murder mystery, usually set in a large country house.

Another vote for How far to Bethlehem. I'll start re reading it tomorrow, first Sunday of Advent. Perfect pre Christmas read.
I also enjoy Christmas crime/ ghost stories.

keepcalmandcavachon

I tend towards an unsettling read for this season, a bit of contrast to all the frivolity, so would recommend MR James - The Turn Of The Screw, The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, The Small Hand by Susan Hill or Sophie Hannah's The Orphan Choir. The dark afternoons & twinkly lights are perfect these I think.

Christmas ghost stories are perfect for December aren’t they?
Unless you live alone and are of a nervous disposition.

But my heart warming choice is always The Christmas Angel by Marcia Willet!

I tend towards an unsettling read for this season, a bit of contrast to all the frivolity, so would recommend MR James - The Turn Of The Screw, The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, The Small Hand by Susan Hill or Sophie Hannah's The Orphan Choir. The dark afternoons & twinkly lights are perfect these I think.

It’s funny reading this post as I gravitate to my old miss read books every Christmas. And a winter solstice by rosamunde pilchard. My tradition.

The Winter Ghost by Kate Mosse is a good story. Not too long either.

Oh yes 'A red bird Christmas' is lovely. You must read it!

Another vote here for ‘How Far to Bethlehem’. It’s my favourite Christmas book. I hardly ever read a book twice, but this one comes out every two or three years, I love it.

I recommend A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg; and Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Have you tried "How Far to Bethlehem?" by Norah Lofts? She has written stories of some of the characters in the Nativity story, starting with Mary, and how they get to Bethlehem. I read it most years, and love it.

Try Trollope - Christmas at Thompson Hall. He's wordy but the stories are good and I always like his characters. I prefer him to Dickens.