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This month’s Book Club read is a warm-hearted romance to curl up with this winter
A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss
A few years back, Jenny had an unusual encounter. Wandering around a small castle with her husband, she heard music coming from the nearby woods and climbed a set of steep stairs to investigate. She encountered a man with a long grey beard and his hair in a ponytail, who she believed had been playing a lute. He was sitting in the back of a purple van filled with dreamcatchers and wooden carvings.
‘It was like finding a real-life wizard,’ Jenny says. ‘He percolated in my mind over time, and eventually he became Augustus Balthazar North, the North sisters’ nomadic father and catalyst for the story.’
In A December to Remember, the three North half-sisters are called back to a quiet English town after the death of their father, for the reading of his will. They’re estranged, but in order to receive their inheritance, they must perform a number of tasks together — to be completed by the winter solstice. This is a book about community and gratitude.
But what did our Book Clubbers think?
Maria Ioannou, 54,
Hatfield, Herts
I thought this might be one of those saccharine Christmas books that I’m not really into. But I was wrong! I read it in one day — once I started, I couldn’t put it down.
I really enjoyed the sense of community and sisterhood, alongside the touch of nostalgia. The author’s descriptions of characters and scenery made the book come alive for me in a magical way.
I felt I was on the journey with the three sisters throughout, and the mystery of the tasks at hand was intriguing.
Melanie Lodge, 58,
Mirfield, W Yorks
I loved this story about three estranged sisters forced together after the death of their father. This was such a feel-good book with great characters.
It would be hard to pick a favourite, as they were all so different. The eldest sister Maggie always feels she needs to be sensible and in charge, the middle sister Simone is a worrier, and the younger sister Star is a scatterbrain.
This book has a lovely mix of drama, humour, romance and Christmas spirit.
