A gentle Christmassy book for a book club readalong

[crochetmonkey74]

Hello elves!

I need a really gentle and lovely Christmassy read for a book club readalong. Ideally, if it was an older book as I am buying several copies to give out so I'd like them to be able to be bought second hand. Think small villages, lovely christmassy story, gentle everything. Not Nigel Slater, definitely more fiction. Any recommendations?

Under the Mistletoe by Katie Flynn. It's about 2 orphans who enlist in the NAAFI at the start of WW2 after running away from an orphanage.

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg?

Twelve Days of Christma s by Trisha Ashley

A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas?

Many of Miss Read's books contain Christmassy chapters.
Jean Stubbs, either Charades or Kelly Park.
Dylan Thomas 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', Laurie Lee's 'Village Christmas'
Little Women.

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
One of my winter favourites. Easily available 2nd hand.

Am checking these all out- they sound great-
I know the Dylan Thomas one well, so I will look for some of the others as I want a new read too.
I'd rather a full on Christmas setting rather than just a Christmassy chapter

It's very very light but The Xmas Factor by Annie Sanders is my go-to. It's like a book version of a nice Saturday afternoon Christmas film

I read Comfort and Joy, India Knight, every Christmas. Very comforting and quite funny.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis? A time-travelling Oxford history undergraduate (in a near-future where time travel is used for history research) travels back to the Middle Ages just before Christmas, so you get her having Christmas in the past and also Christmas in near-future Oxford as a pandemic breaks out and her supervisor has to figure out how to get her home. That sounds very fraught with danger, but it’s actually very touching about Christmas and human love in both time periods, and has a lot of cosy detail and Christmas spirit.

Maybe one of Donna Andrews's bird-themed Christmas mysteries - the Meg Langslow mysteries. Despite being murder mysteries I would say they are very gentle. The first of the Christmas ones is Six Geese A-Slaying. It's tenth in the series overall.

If a children's book would work, you could try Cold Christmas by Nina Beachcroft (1983).

Although in many ways Domesday Book is amazing, I'd say it was too bleak for what the OP is looking for, and the lengthiness might be a problem too.

I agree about the Domesday book. People dying of the plague is probably not what I would want to read about at the moment! Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome isn't about Christmas itself, but there's lots of snow and cosiness in an iced-in houseboat, plus an exciting race to the North Pole. (there is also an outbreak of Mumps but that doesn't decimate the population )

Sorry, keep thinking of more!
The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow - not exactly Christmassy, or cosy, but definitely great on descriptions of snow and cold.

We've just chosen a Christmas mystery by Jostein Gaarder for our December book club-apparently a spin on the Christmas story meant to be read a chapter a day as an advent book I believe

Finding love at the Christmas market?
Very Christmassy- lots of lovely Christmas village scenes, both here and abroad, wonderful characters with interesting character development, not necessarily as linear as it sounds from the blurb!

Very gentle and definitely not a gritty read though, frivolous, easy reading, frou frou, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

It’s by jo Thomas and only £2 in the works

I would second A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg. Also The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston - it's a children's book but one that's loved by many adults too.

@bogeythefungusman

Sorry, keep thinking of more! The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder.

That’s by far the best of the series and entirely gripping, but if The Doomsday Book is rejected on the grounds of plague and pandemic being too cheerless and too close to home(which I get), then I’m not sure a novel about monotony, isolation and near-starvation is going to meet the brief better.

Ok, my cheerier suggestion is non-fiction— Laurie Lee’s Village Christmas. Very much in the same vein as Cider With Rosie, it’s about his childhood Christmases in the Cotswolds, traditions etc.

Christmas with Miss Read: Christmas at Fairacre, and A Country Christmas.

Winter solstice is a horrible book!

I bought it from a recommendation on here and it’s hard to explain without giving the plot away but what happens is awful and then the way the characters react in a space of less than 6 months in total is bloody appalling.

Awful book and awful people. I was so disappointed.

Not old, only out last year, but I loved I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day by Milly Johnson. Lovely and gentle, heartwarming festive story 🎄⛄🎅

The Night before Christmas by Scarlet Bailley

I love winter solstice!

What sort of age group?

Why not go for an oldie - A Christmas Carol' Most people know the story but how many have actually read the book.