Frosty books for your Christmas holidays

From the masterful pen of the author of Pure and Oxygen comes a painfully acute dissection of resentment and betrayal, as two couples find themselves cut off from the rest of the world during the devastating winter of 1962.

Set in a small Irish town in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and following a coal and timber merchant confronted by the past, this magnetic tale of determination and quiet heroism is as hopeful as it is haunting.

A dark meditation on the dangers and seductive power of youthful idealism, set in the shadows of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains, Winter Animals is an extraordinary debut examining freedom, friendship, desire and excess.

First published in 1962, this comic tale of Lady Bobbin’s Christmas house party tells of true love and false fidelity, hijinks and low morals, not to mention the consumption of a considerable quantity of Christmas spirit.

A celebration of Christmas, a tale of redemption, and a critique on Victorian society, Charles Dickens’ atmospheric novella follows the miserly, penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge who views Christmas as ‘humbug’.

A haunting exploration of love, loss and community, Vesaas’ lyrical 1963 novel, translated from the original Norwegian, portrays the powerful bond that forms between two 11-year-old girls – and a tragedy that changes everything.

Darkly evocative and fuelled by Banville’s wintry wit, Snow explores the religious tensions in mid-twentieth century Ireland through a masterfully nuanced take on a classic whodunit.

Pivoting on a real moment in history, as the storm clouds hover over Europe in December 1938, the ninth ‘Josephine Tey’ novel draws on all the much-loved conventions of the Golden Age Christmas mystery, whilst giving them a thrilling contemporary twist.

From the inimitable imagination of the bestselling author of The Appeal comes a dazzlingly clever Yuletide mystery, as the discovery of a dead body disrupts the festive pantomime preparations of a group of small town amateur drama enthusiasts.

A poignant and captivating wintry folk tale for young and old alike, steeped in the landscape and literature of Scandinavia. Mila and her sisters quest through frozen wild-lands to save their brother and find a way past an eternal winter.

In this classic fantasy, four adventurous siblings step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the White Witch. But when hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change…

A Christmas novel set in Terry Pratchett’s beloved Discworld. The stockings are hanging ready, the sherry and pies are waiting by the fireplace – but where is the jolly fat man with his sack? If he isn’t found by morning, there won’t be a morning. Ever again…

From Japanese ‘snow women’ to Icelandic ‘dog’s paws,’ Campbell provides a wonderfully wintry compendium of worldwide monikers for the white stuff along with the fascinating stories behind them.

This stunning work of life writing evokes the landscapes and traditions of the author’s native Gloucestershire in the mid-twentieth century and other poignant scenes from a bygone world with wit and humanity.

A poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves, and learn that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.