Win eight-book Christmas bundle including A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas, A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorcroft and A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Janet Gordon, who lives in Takeley, reviews best-sellers and debut fiction for the Indie

Reading Indie editor Paul Winspear’s pleas to Bishop’s Stortford residents to subscribe to our wonderful local paper has touched my heart.

Yes there are so many calls on our purse, particularly at this time of year, and living on a pension, as I know to my cost, is so difficult, but we all need a local paper and all it takes is buying one less coffee a week to subscribe. So please do so – and why not buy a print copy as well?

Our lovely Stortford library is a designated warm space and, unfortunately, they’ve had their newspaper budget cut. So when you’ve read your print copy of the Indie, please drop it into the library where they’ll be very grateful. Just don’t try it on a Saturday afternoon as I did – the traffic was horrendous and I lost count of how many changes of lights it took to get back out of town.

Do you still send Christmas cards? I normally buy just the one packet, but I’m always browsing the charity shops for their offerings. Don’t know why I bother, really, because I always plump for the same type of picture – that Dickensian scene with a coach and four horses galloping through a snowy village with Victorian-clothed children. I’m a sucker for an old-fashioned Christmas – bring on the snow!

And with that in mind, there’s such a wealth of Christmas books – which have now become a thing – to choose from. Here’s a selection to be devoured with a mulled wine in front of the fire, appearing in all good bookshops and on supermarket shelves.

A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas, A Skye Full of Stars by Sue Moorcroft, A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone, Escape for Christmas by Phillipa Ashley and Home Again for Christmas by Emily Stone

There’s something to please everyone in this selection from a wonderful village in Skye (I definitely want a ticket for a Highland Express, please) to a dead body in a family home’s larder, to a chocolate-making boot camp and an inheritance of half a travel company.

If you really don’t want to celebrate then Escape for Christmas should be your choice.

COMPETITION

And one lucky Indie reader can win an eight-book bundle of Christmas reads featuring these five novels as well as Happy Bloody Christmas by Jo Middleton, The Christmas Express by Isla Gordon and A Merry Little Christmas by Cathy Bramley. To be in with a chance, simply answer this question. What is the name of Father Christmas’ chief reindeer? Is it a) Rudolph, b) Prancer or c) Dancer.

Send your entries to Book Competition, Bishop’s Stortford Independent, 7 Palmers Lane, Bishop’s Stortford CM23 3XB or email letters@stortfordindie.co.uk with ‘Book Competition’ in the subject line.

Entries close at 5pm on Wednesday November 27, 2024. Please include your address in your competition entry.

Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings (HQ £13.99)

Shy and self-contained Victoria leaves home for uni and takes lodgings in a dingy town house in Oxford.

Bumping into a fellow roomer, she instantly falls in love, but realises that gorgeous Nick wouldn’t be interested in her as she is and so re-invents herself so that she can join the beautiful people – and she does.

This gives us such an insight into young people’s lives – their angst and their insecurities. She’s studying architecture, but drops out and escapes to France after a really bold and out-of-character escapade, eking out a living drawing cartoons for tourists.

But then she hits pay day by painting Ingrid, the well-heeled star of the day who adores the painting of herself and decides to give it to her soon-to-be husband Julian, who just happens to be one of the beautiful people that Victoria was in class with at uni.

And, just like that, 25 years roll back and all is uncovered. A complicated, compulsive read.

A Kennedy Affair by Emily Hourican (Hachette Books £15.99)

Us oldies can surely remember where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated. And there have been loads of books devoted to the staunchly Catholic Kennedys.

This is a wonderful story of the Second World War and Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, who falls in love with Billy, the heir to the title of Duke of Devonshire, and a love that surely couldn’t be.

Kick kicks over the traces to come back to England where she can’t stop thinking about Billy, elder son of the Duke of Devonshire, and their growing friendship through countless letters. Joe Kennedy, previously American ambassador to the Court of St James, has been recalled, but the family’s long tendrils still extend overseas.

On board the now troop ship, Kick meets Edie, who is also escaping to become a Donut Dolly, their designated tasks to keep the GIs happy with food, drink and conversations. Taking part in the wartime shenanigans are Debo Mitford, Lady Brigid Guinness and Sissy Maddington, who has also escaped from a frighteningly lonely existence in Ireland and is nominally under the care of the Guinness’.

It’s a tale of big houses, black market food, nights at The Ritz and the hardships of war for the well-heeled ladies. But above all, it’s a tale of the love between Kick and Billy and if/when/how it’s eventually resolved.

I simply couldn’t put this one down, I adored it.

The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street by Annie Gray (Profile Books £22)

There are often reconstructions of Georgian or Victorian high streets that entice us to visit and some of my favourite scenes from historical films are those showing the shopping streets and habits. And I just love visiting Bath.

But this meticulously researched book gives us the history of the high street as far back as medieval marketplaces, through to the Regency streets I love and the 1960s concrete monstrosities and on to the present day.

Far from being a dull historical tome, this is such a fascinating glimpse into life as it was and a Christmas present must for any shopaholic.