Gifts

Warm and uplifting storytelling: a delightful treat
Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures

If youre not in the Yuletide mood yet, you will be after this
Telegraph

An ode to the strange and wonderful time that is Christmas
Stylist

A novel thats sure to warm the heart of any Scrooge
Radio Times

Tender and moving, Gifts is infused with Christmas magic - that bittersweet mix of joy, yearning, sadness and hope that accompanies the festive season
Daily Mirror

A gorgeous festive tale... Beautifully written and highly emotionally intelligent
Daily Mail

I loved The Versions Of Us by Laura Barnett and her new novel is just as wonderful... The ideal warm, bittersweet read to get you in the festive spirit
Good Housekeeping

Full of warmth, poignancy and a huge dose of Christmas spirit
Red

Twelve people
Twelve gifts
One Christmas to remember

Maddyruns the bookshop on Market Square. Shes struggling to choose a gift (a watch? a wine subscription? a weekend bag? all too much?) for her old school friend Peter, whos just moved back from London following a messy divorce.

Peterdoesnt have a clue what to get for his teenage daughter Chloe - furious with her mother, shes decided to up sticks and move to Kent with him, but he worries that he really doesnt know her at all.

Chloewants to buy something special for her grandmother Irene, who lives alone on the other side of town.

Irenedoesnt get out much these days, but shed really like to find the right gift for Alina, whos so much more than a carer, really - always stops to chat for a bit, have a cup of tea, even if it makes her late.

And Alina, meanwhile, has her eye on something for...

From the no. 1 bestselling author of The Versions of Us comes a novel about how wonderful and sad and difficult and happy and strange Christmas can be. Stories to inspire, move and comfort.

He felt it: the lightness, the expansiveness, the anticipation, the sense that something good was coming. And it was, wasnt it - though the world was still licking its collective wounds and there was still suffering everywhere, suffering and loneliness and sadness. Despite all this, it was good: it was kindness, it was giving without thought of recompense, it was light in the darkness