Welcome to Litsy!

Nope. Christmas cosy this is not. It goes hard on the malice; a family group reunited for Christmas, but why they are reuniting is the question given their most tenuous of familial ties and their constant sniping. Constant, exhausting sniping. There were some interesting threads but not enough to give me Christmas cheer. (However I enjoyed the cover although I‘m not sure Meg Mason and I read the same book. This is NOT comparable to the Cazalets!)

The fire is lit; sherry poured; claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas.

I received this lovely book today! Thankyou Leah, you are such a kind person.
I‘m thrilled with the book. Christmas can be a loaded time ( especially perched on a cliff 😳) I think this book will address that.
Thankyou my lovely friend 🩷
Im looking forward to reading this one 🥰😘
Thankyou XXX

Nothing brings out the dysfunction like the holidays! I don't think it quite reaches the heights of Pym, etc., but it's still pretty great and Farrell seems like a fascinating person.

I picked this book up when I was in London because everything written on the cover screamed that it was meant to be mine. A dysfunctional family at Christmas perfect for fans of Barbara Pym?! Yes please! And it delivered all of that and more. Unhappy people making each other miserable full of cutting barbs, relationships frazzling, people walking off in a huff, and a servant who hates them all. This might be my favorite Christmas book ever.

A novel about a dysfunctional family so after reading this every other family looks great in comparison.

The matriarch of the family is gathering her children, niece and nephew for a Christmas celebration. This family brings out the worst in each other and some haven‘t been seen in years.

#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks
#1951 #192025 @Librarybelle
#Adventathon @BookmarkTavern
#RushAThon @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

“A stylish and penetrating comedy of manners: Chekhov with more cigarettes and English emotional frigidity..”

I happily was influenced by bookstagram to buy this one. But the book blurb on the back cover has me sold! Slipping in a holiday read under the wire it feels like. Where has December gone? And still, I‘ve managed to find the time to eat far too many Christmas cookies. 🎄

Tomorrow I will be a reformed character.

No more shopping.

No more chocolate for breakfast.

Tidy room...

To do list...

💃💃

I was just looking through some options for @Ruthiella ‘s #CloakandDaggerChristmas and realized I hadn‘t posted about this eagerly awaited and recently republished 1951 novel.

It‘s blurbed as “a darkly witty portrait of a dysfunctional post-war English family‘s festivities for fans of Barbara Pym, Stella Gibbons, Nancy Mitford and Elizabeth Taylor.”

Doesn‘t it sound great? Too bad it‘s not a mystery and doesn‘t fit any of the prompts. 😆