Reviewed by Emma Crowley
It's almost Christmas and snow is falling in the Cotswolds. Simon and Nora are gearing up for the festive season - but their bookshop is in trouble.
Nora is delighted when a customer buys a book that's been on the shelves for years, but that won't be enough to keep the bailiffs away.
Fuelled by mulled wine and mince pies, Nora and Simon hatch a plan to rouse community spirit, sending out six books to lonely villagers. The books change the recipients' lives, but is it too late to change the bookshop's fate?
Many thanks to Orion via NetGalley for my copy of The Six Tales of Christmas to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I started my Christmas reading in early October this year because let's face it after the year we all have had, and continue to do, I will grab any chance for some light relief and getting away from things at every available opportunity. Another reason is I often leave it too late to start my Christmas reading and I know I am missing out on so many wonderful books but I am so glad that I bit the bullet and dove straight into the Christmas selection of books I have acquired, even though at the time of reading this there was all talk of Halloween. This fantastic, feel good book has to be one of my reading highlights of 2020 and I can’t say enough good things about it.
Anne Marie Ryan’s fantastic story The Six Tales of Christmas was just the tonic I needed and should be top of everyone’s festive reading list. It just oozes magic, charm, warmth, friendship and the feel good factor is abundant in spades. There is not one fault I could find with any aspect of the book and I really didn’t want it to end. The author has created a marvellous setting with a cast of characters that are all going through issues and struggles set amidst what is supposed to be the most happiest time of the year. Some characters are trying to hide what is going on in their lives but with a touch of Christmas cheer and a clever idea from the main character Nora, hopefully the most wonderful time of the year will truly turn out that way for the residents of Stowford in particular six special people.
Nora Walden is married to Simon and together they run the Stowford Bookshop which until now has had success but with the advent of shopping online things are not going as smoothly for them as they would wish nor does it help that the business rates seem to be increasing on a regular basis. Nora is a worrier through and through and she keeps her problems close to her chest not even sharing the harsh realities with Simon for fear the pressure will cause him more heart trouble. Nora is shouldering a burden and sees no way out of it.
The bookshop is in dire financial straits and things are looking bleaker by the day. She chooses to bury her head in the sand and ignore the demanding letters that are arriving on a regular basis. If the bookshop doesn’t start to make money fast then they will be forced to close. After all the years they have spent building it up not to mention the flat above is where they call home Nora can’t bear that her life could soon come crashing down. The building itself needs work with the roof constantly leaking but there is not enough money to do the repairs that are needed. A local estate agent keeps putting pressure on her to sell but she just can’t even contemplate that this is the road she will be forced to venture down.
Poor Nora was in a desperate state but she always put on a brave face in front of everybody else. She also desperately misses her daughter who has gone away travelling on a gap year. Nora wants as little stress for Simon and her family as possible but it seems that stress is knocking at her door and will not go away in a hurry. I really couldn’t fathom why Nora was putting herself through all this worry and anguish on her own and not telling anyone how bad things really were. I understood she was conscious as to what the effects of stress could potentially do to Simon with regards to his health but keeping things secret so much so that they were getting out of hand would only cause more problems in the long term. After all they do say that a problem shared is a problem halved. Nora feels that giving up the bookshop means she is a complete failure and it would be like giving up everything she had valued in life. The town as well as herself and Simon really need the bookshop not to mention the connection to her mother that she feels as it was her beloved mother who first started the shop.
Perhaps up until this point I have made it out that it’s all doom and gloom for Nora and her future but really this is just the background to her and her family when we first meet them. The entire plot does not solely focus on Nora trying to solve her problems and make the bookshop a success. I’ve read heaps of books in the past with this as the running theme i.e. trying to make a go of a café or a shop etc. and yes this problem does need to be solved but the author does allow several other very worthwhile and interesting and emotional stories to also come to the forefront. Nora uses books as a tonic to help those who can’t reach out when they need to. Nora had learnt from a young age that as long as you had a good book for company you never needed to feel lonely. She loves matching the perfect book to the right person and this genuine kindness and passion for her profession will see her come up with a very good idea that might just help her with her long term goal whilst at the same time help some other residents in the village.
I love nothing more than a book about books so to speak. It’s a bookworms dream and even more so when a bookshop is the primary setting and all the talk of books and what they can do for people was so uplifting and there were books I hadn’t come across that were mentioned that now I actually want to go and read. Nora knows a Christmas miracle is needed to save the shop and as she cares about the people around her and their stories a brilliant idea comes to mind. Simon appeals to the shops online following to nominate people that for one reason or another may need some Christmas cheer or just a little guidance in life. Nora carefully selects six books from the shop and wraps them and delivers them anonymously to the people she had chosen and so sets in motion a whole barrel of events that will see six people’s lives transformed and hopefully by doing this maybe the long term future of the bookshop may be changed for the better as well.
The selected few who receive the books are surprised by their arrival but I thought it was such a clever thing to do. I hoped through reading them the people would find what they were looking for in life or else were provided with the courage to take that next step that deep down they knew they needed to take. Olywn really misses teaching, it had been her entire life and she doesn’t know what to do anymore. She has lost her purpose in life. Might the book she receives point her in a new positive direction? Will lost his wife and is busy raising his children Adam and Julia. Money is tight and he feels he can never do enough to provide them with everything they want and need. He feels like a loser and avoids seeing people in the village. Perhaps what he reads between the covers of his book will give him some inspiration and maybe connecting with Nora and the bookshop some significant avenues may open up for him?
Matteo is an American actor whose dreams of making it big in the Royal Shakespeare company have not materialised. He is struggling to find any roles and working in the local pub to make ends meet is just not what he wants to be doing. David Langdon is the local MP hiding a secret that seems to be weighing him down and his daughter is trying her best to help him as she can see he is struggling. Might he find what he has been searching for to give him a much needed lift if he reads his book which will allow him to see the light amongst the ever encroaching darkness?
Harry is a young boy mired in grief having lost his sister. Guilt eats away at him and he doesn’t express it in the best way possible. He is the recipient of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Might it work its magic on him as it has done for countless other readers? Sam is the final person selected. She is a management consultant and works herself to the bone with little time for anything else other than work and all that it entails. She will not rest until she is made partner in the business. A Christmas Carol is given to her and maybe if she can make the time to read it she will learn a few life lessons and make some changes?
Books have the power to transform lives and with the kindness of Nora despite all she has going on she really does demonstrate this. In times of trouble help comes in many different ways. ’Never lose hope, because happy endings are possible and the next chapter of your life might turn out to be the best’. I really fell for the cover of this book the minute I first saw it online. It’s what attracted me to the title and I never even bothered reading the blurb. I just knew I wanted to read it and then to begin it and discover a bookshop featured heavily was even better and from the moment I started to read I just fell deeper and deeper under it’s spell and I couldn’t bare to leave it down. It really epitomises the spirit, meaning and message of Christmas and I when I finished it I just wanted to go online and rave about this fantastic read and make sure everyone would get their hands on it and read it as soon as possible.
Ann Marie Ryan is a really talented author and If I could give this book more than five stars I would it’s just pure perfection from beginning to end and it will cheer people up and provide some hope in the darkest of times as it proves random acts of kindness do work and that ‘Books bring people together and make us stronger. How even at the loneliest and most difficult of times in our lives books give us hope and remind us that we’re not alone’ and that truly is such an important message and it was conveyed with genuine sentiment and it is a message I will carry with me for a long time. Do yourself a favour and read this brilliant book as soon as you possibly can. You really won’t regret it.
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