Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm

Cold Comfort Farm was one of the first books I ever blogged about, waaay back when this blog was only a few months old. Recently I was in the mood to read something with a holiday theme, so when I found out that Stella Gibbons had written a Christmas companion to her hilarious novel, I knew I had to read it.

Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm is actually a collection of nicely varied short stories by Gibbons, only a few of which revolve around Christmas. Many touch on themes of social conventions and the fallout that occurs from awkward interactions between mismatched sets of characters. There's also a sort of detective story with a great twist in "The Murder Mark" and a sweet, holiday tale in "The Little Christmas Tree". The title story itself actually serves as a prelude to Cold Comfort Farm and offers a peak into the Starkadder clan's Christmas before the era of Flora Poste. Not as blatantly clever as the original novel, it's the kind of piece that's probably only interesting if you're already familiar with the oddball characters.

I don't think this will ever be a widespread Christmas classic, but I do think it's a fun holiday read for anyone who's a fan of Gibbons' other work.