Literary/well written fiction with a Christmas/winter theme

[CassandraWebb]

I 'd really welcome suggestions, partly for me. Partly for gifts for family.

Nothing too dark/traumatic as Christmas is a tricky time for me for various reasons but I would also like some really well written /thoughtful books that make me feel festive

I would suggest Small Things Like These but it is a bit dark.

Rosamund Pilcher Winter Solstice might work well

The Secret Christmas by Anna Abney. About a family celebrating Christmas when it was banned under Cromwell rule. Really lovely book and short.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman. I haven't read this yet, but I have it ready for the festive season. From the blurb I've gathered that it's the story of 12 people from the same village in the lead up to the Viscounts Christmas ball, set after the Napoleonic wars.

Andrew Miller's the Land in Winter. It definitely counts as a literary read but isn't especially upbeat. Beautifully written though.
Wintering by Katherine May is more non-fiction but a lovely uplifting read that makes you appreciate the beauty of winter.
I love a "cosy crime" book on winter nights. 'Hercule Poirot's Christmas' by the Queen of Crime herself, might be a good choice.

Forgot I started this! Thank you, I enjoyed Wintering and there's some good suggestions on here I haven't come across before (or had forgotten I had on my "to read" list!)

If you can find it, The Country Child by Alison Uttley is her memoir of growing up on a farm in the late 19th century. Beautifully written, it covers a whole year and the Christmas bit is just fab. (Also I dunno how much you're looking to spend but there's a Folio Society edition on eBay atm)

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper is a fantasy novel written - brilliantly - for older children/YA (I read it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a MA in Eng Lit). Themes of the battle between good and evil, amazing Christmassy descriptions.

Wintry theme:

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Higher-brow non-fiction:

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

Ooh, and How To Winter by Kari Leibowitz is about the psychology of having a good time in the winter, engagingly written and inspired me to buy some fairy lights and a sunrise alarm clock and to go swimming.

I'd recommend Jeanette Winterson's short stories, I think it's called Christmas Days.

Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford

A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas.

Time of the child, Niall Williams.

probably one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read

Earlier on today I came across this collection: Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories (Penguin Christmas Classics) by Anthony Trollope. I haven't read it but it contains five seasonal stories and looks promising.

If you read Arthur Ransome's children's books as a child and fancy a bit of cosy nostalgia, there's his book Winter Holiday. It doesn't feature Christmas itself but is set during those holidays and is very, very snowy. (You don't have to have read any of the other books first.)

Oh these both sound fabulous!

I really enjoyed this

I nearly went and ordered this then read the description and realised I read it a couple of years ago. It's a brilliant book though. So moving.

The Winter Book by Tove Jansson.

Moominland Midwinter (children’s book but incredibly atmospheric) by the same author.

The Snow Child

Beautiful book. Very atmospheric, slightly fairly tale like. But it's wintry rather than festive.

Good reminder! I saw this in a book shop and really wanted it but was on a book buying ban so limited myself to only two and then forgot the name!

Both of these are lovely.

I've just finished Murder at Mistletoe Manor and surprisingly enjoyed it. It's well written and not gory, just a good whodunnit with snow. I did actually buy it as a gift but couldn't resist it.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. It's not dark, but a bit sad in parts.

If you like crime fiction, the British Library Crime Classics series has a few Christmas-y ones (golden age detective fiction). A couple are short stories but at least one is a full length mystery.

Another wintery / Christmas theme book is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Lots of good recommendations already

A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon (cozy crime)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Penguin Classics have a collection of all his Christmas Stories)
The Box of Delights by John Masefield (children's classic)
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston (children's classic)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (time travel but the historical story line takes place at the time of the Black Death so you might not want to read if you want to avoid anything upsetting)
The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis (literary fiction)
Christmas Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
And So This is Christmas by Brian Bilston (also poetry)

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett is a good romp and I second @bluegreygreen suggestion of British Library Crime Classics. Lots of them are set at Christmas, they're beautifully produced and whisk you back to a Golden Age!

On those lines, British Library Women Writers Series have published Stories for Christmas, including writers such as E,M Delafield, Elizabeth von Armin and Beryl Bainbridge. I was bought this last year and enjoyed it.

Can't believe I didn't suggest these- I'm a huge Tove Jansson fan. I agree, Moominland Midwinter is a wonderfully evocative book which perfectfully captures the magic of a familiar landscape transformed by snow.
Would Moominvalley in November also count? Such a gentle, melancholy tale of different characters waiting for the Moomins to return home...