Christmas By Candlelight

Karen Swan

YOU know that the festive season is well and truly here when a Karen Swan Christmas cracker appears enticingly on the bookshelves.

And this year, the queen of epic romances sweeps us away to a snowed-in family mansion in the wilds of North Yorkshire where a group of old university friends discover that the past has a bad habit of catching up when there’s no means of escape.

It’s three days before Christmas and starting to snow when high-flier Libby and her new boyfriend Max reluctantly attend her university reunion. 

Hosted by Archie Templeton – the hell-chasing libertine and heartbreaker of their group – at his grand family estate in Yorkshire, the night is a great success until they go to leave and find the road is now blocked with snow.

At first, being snowed in together is fun. But as the hours pass, everyone grows restless and then the power goes off. Hunkered down together by candlelight, they reminisce about old times and tensions soon start to rise. Secrets from the past begin to unravel and Libby is confronted with a truth that she has long tried to deny.

Author of big festive hitters like Midnight in the Snow, The Christmas Party, Christmas Under the Stars and The Christmas Postcards, Swan (pictured left) is an expert at delivering sack-loads of love, mystery and drama… and this enchanting story about past pain and misunderstandings sparkles like a frost-filled morning.

From first page to last, this is a captivating wintertime odyssey which moves seamlessly between past and present to reveal old – and sometimes painful – truths about fractured friendships, and treats readers to a dazzling array of superbly portrayed characters.

Sprinkled throughout with Swan’s trademark twists and turns, insight, cosy charm, and eye for comedy, this is the perfect warm-up for the Christmas holiday.
(Pan, paperback, £8.99)