By Victoria Bromley, Eleanor Bowskill and Daisy Ward
We welcome the holiday season with mince pies and Michael Bublé on the radio. Yet, the lead-up to Christmas is pathed with equal parts mistletoe and dread of finding the perfect presents for your family members. What to get the uncle you see twice a year at most? How to treat your grandparents when they already have everything? Here, we answer your festive frustrations with a definitive gift guide for the perfect bookish presents.
Mum: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
This powerful and engaging story of parent-child relationships is the perfect pick for your mum’s book club. Whilst some of the issues covered may be challenging and divisive, no mum in their right mind could tear their eyes away from a legal drama written in the style of Picoult’s formative work. Brimming with suspense throughout, with poetic prose and pitch-perfect character development, long-term Picoult fans will soon recognise the authentic dual narrators as women that could be their daughters, friends or neighbours.
Dad: Diddly Squat:‘Til The Cows Come Home by Jeremy Clarkson
This non-fiction favourite is full of illustrations and large text for the dads who say they don’t read. No dad would turn down a book with Top Gear legend Jeremy Clarkson on the cover. Narrating his farming adventures from the hit Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm, it’s packed with humour, chaos and some farming failures. It’s no literary classic, but dads around the country will devour this in one sitting before all the Quality Street have been eaten.
Sister: She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa
Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
This cosy and heart-warming novel about the connection between humans and felines set in the outskirts of Tokyo, is the perfect choice for sisters who are cat-obsessed or who need a reminder of the magic of the everyday. She and Her Cat is an ideal Christmas gift, as it not only includes fabulous illustrations and uplifts the soul but it also reveals with beautiful clarity that hope can be found even in the darkest moments.
Brother: Fairy Tale by Stephen King
The protagonist of Stephen King’s newest horror might be a lot like your brother: a seventeen-year-old high school kid, who is great at sports and a decent student, and ultimately an unlikely hero. King has been described as one of the greatest storytellers of our time, and so by giving this gift you are providing its receiver with a complex world to escape to when the Christmas chaos becomes a little bit overwhelming.
Grandparents: The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
In the third volume of The Thursday Murder Club, a local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the elder investigators are in hot pursuit of two murders, committed ten years apart. Osman’s record-breaking mystery novels have fast become a household name. Nobody is more aware of this than your grandparents, who will undoubtedly claim that the newest adventure is his best yet. Of course, grandparents are selfless, sensible beings, more inclined to reserve the novel from a library three towns over than purchase a pristine hard-back for themselves. The novel is sure to become a treasured keepsake.
Uncle: The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
Complete with Mortimer-isms, hilarious plotlines and even a clever hidden mystery, the much-loved comic has produced a proper page-turner. Fans of Mortimer’s surrealist turns on comedy game show Would I Lie to You? won’t be disappointed. Indeed, a unique sense of humour is what sets this debut apart, as an unexceptional legal assistant pursues a girl he forms a connection within a South London pub. Even if your uncle isn't an avid reader, he will surely feel that the story came to an end too soon.
Auntie: The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh
All aunties are the same. They give off the same energy: Chanel No. 5, warm hugs and always give the best gifts. Determined to match that level of brilliant gift-giving, Clare Mackintosh’s new novel The Last Party is sure to make you the favourite niece/nephew. As the first instalment to Mackintosh’s new detective series following DC Ffion Morgan, the book centres around the mysterious death of pop icon Rhys Lloyd when he is found floating on Mirror Lake on New Year's Day. A suspenseful crime thriller that your auntie will end up rating five stars on Goodreads.
Cousin: Guinness Book of World Records 2023
Whether your cousin is six or twenty-six, the Guinness Book of World Records is a classic gift that all the family can enjoy on Christmas Day. See who can spot the weirdest world record and debate which records you think you could beat yourself. Before long you’ll be challenging everyone to see who can eat the most Christmas pudding in a minute.