PRE-ORDER HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, THE BRAND NEW FESTIVE TREAT FROM HEIDI SWAIN, COMING CHRISTMAS 2024. Holly has the place to herself this Christmas. It’s not her place, though – she is house-sitting for friends who live on Nightingale Square – just there to keep the place warm and cosy and only for long enough for her to sort her life out. Newly single and finding herself unsure about next steps for her career, she plans to hunker down and make some life decisions. To clear her mind, she sets off on early morning walks around a nearby lake and bumps into May, an older lady who is also new to the area, and her dapper Dachshund Monty. Quickly, a firm friendship blossoms. Then when Holly meets Bear, a rather large and rather attractive man, at the local pub, and his rescue dog Queenie, her stay at Nightingale Square suddenly feels even more appealing. As the community comes together for the season’s festivities, Holly must start thinking about where her life will take her next. Some big decisions need to be made, but distractions close to home make thinking about the future more tricky than ever… Will she get that festive feeling this Christmas…? Your favourite authors love Heidi too! 'Grab a hot chocolate and lose yourself in this heart-warming story of romance, community and secrets. The perfect story to read by the fire!' PHILLIPA ASHLEY ‘Brimming with warmth and Christmas cheer’ SARAH MORGAN

Join a brave little mouse on a big Christmas adventure! This is the chapter book edition of Alex T. Smith's modern Christmas classic How Winston Delivered Christmas, with gorgeous black and white illustrations from the author throughout – the perfect festive gift for newly confident readers. Winston is on a Very Important Mission. On Christmas Eve, he finds a letter to Father Christmas that did not make it to the post box – so, with no time to lose, he sets out to deliver it himself in time for Christmas Day! He has a lot of Very Exciting Adventures on his Very Important Mission and makes some wonderful friends along the way. Will he find Father Christmas in time? How Winston Delivered Christmas is a heartwarming illustrated story by Alex T. Smith, bestselling author of the Claude series.

"Ornaments, decorations, stockings"--Cover.

Controversial yet beloved among audiences, Christmas-themed horror movies emerged in the early 1970s and gained a notorious reputation with Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), depicting Santa as an ax-wielding maniac. Some parents and conservative groups condemned the film, while others embraced the portrayal of Yuletide as a backdrop for fear and dread. Drawing on interviews with directors, producers, special effects artists, photographers and actors, this book celebrates the sordid, colorful history of the Christmas horror subgenre. Psycho Santa films such as Christmas Evil (1980) and 3615 code Pere Noel (1989) are examined, along with "Yule-Die" slashers like The Dorm that Dripped Blood (1982), Black Christmas (1974) and Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972). Commercial successes like Gremlins (1984) and Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) are covered, as well as more recent releases such as Better Watch Out (2016), Red Christmas (2016) and Deathcember (2019). Rare photographs, promotional materials and an annotated filmography are provided.

Selected for Jamie Oliver's Cookbook Club ‘I love it. As soon as I opened this, I felt it was Christmas.’ – Diana Henry Advent celebrates the magical run-up to Christmas with over 100 classic German baking recipes. The Advent season is one of the most special times of the year, when candles twinkle, the Christmas tree is decorated, and the smells of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove fill the kitchen. In her new cookbook Advent, Anja Dunk shares her recipes for the very best of traditional German festive bakes. From lightly spiced Lebkuchen, frosted cinnamon stars, jam-filled ginger hearts, snow-capped coconut macaroons, to marzipan-filled Stollen, edible tree decorations, lucky meringue mushrooms and a gingerbread house dripping with candies and sugar icicles, you will find delectable spiced treats to fill your Bunter Teller and share with friends and family. Featuring Anja’s own linocut illustrations and evocative photography, this is a stunning, comforting clothbound volume that will be a family favourite for many years to come. The weeks of Advent hold all the sweet, almost unbearable anticipation of Christmas for days on end and this gorgeous book embraces that fairy-tale feeling within its pages.

CLASSICS FOR CHRISTMAS: 180+ Novels, Christmas Tales, Poems & Carols in One Volume (Illustrated) offers an unparalleled aggregation of literary treasures, each radiating the warm spirit of Christmas in a myriad of textures. This anthology spans the vast landscape of classic literature, encompassing an array of genres from the poignant prose of Dickensian tales to the lyrical verses of Wordsworth, all unified under the festive banner of the holiday season. Such a compilation not only showcases the scholarly depth of the editors but also shines a light on the individual gemsstories, and poems that have shaped the cultural legacy of Christmas, making it a time of reflection, joy, and profound storytelling. The diverse cadre of authors presented in this volumeranging from novelists like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to poets like Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and not forgetting the visionary storytellers such as Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersenbrings together a rich tableau of cultural and historical contexts. This anthology embodies a unique cross-section of literary movements, from Romanticism to Realism, each contributing to the multifaceted celebration of Christmas in literature. It is a tribute to their collective genius, offering a cohesive narrative that transcends geographical and temporal boundaries to underscore the universal themes of love, generosity, and renewal inherent to the holiday season. This volume is an essential addition to the libraries of those who cherish the literary soul of the holiday season. Beyond its value as a comprehensive anthology of Christmas classics, it serves as a gateway to the varied emotional landscapes created by some of literatures most celebrated authors. Readers are invited to dive into this cornucopia of festive tales, poems, and carolsto be delighted by the familiar, challenged by the profound, and ultimately enriched by the breadth of perspectives and stylistic approaches. CLASSICS FOR CHRISTMAS offers not just stories to be read but experiences to be lived and shared, making it an invaluable resource for anyone looking to rediscover the depth and complexity of the holiday spirit through the lens of classic literature.

Hu Feng, the 'counterrevolutionary' leader of a banned literary school, spent twenty-five years in the Chinese Communist Party's prison system. But back in the Party's early days, he was one of its best known literary theoreticians and critics-at least until factional infighting, and his short fuse, made him persona non grata among the establishment. His wife, Mei Zhi, shared his incarceration for many years. F is her account of that time, beginning ten years after her and Hu Feng's initial arrest. She herself was eventually released, after which she navigated the party's Byzantine prison bureaucracy searching for his whereabouts. Having finally found him, she voluntarily returned to gaol to care for him in his rage and suffering, watching his descent into madness as the excesses of the Cultural Revolution took their toll. Both an intimate portrait of Mei Zhi's life with Hu Feng and a stark account of the prison system and life under Mao, F is at once beautiful and harrowing. With support from English PEN This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN's Writers in Translation programme supported by Bloomberg. English PEN exists to promote literature and its understanding, uphold writers' freedoms around the world, campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and promote the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas. For more information visit www.englishpen.org.