Published September 25th, 2025 by Harvill Secker
Historical Fiction, Romance Novel, Holiday Fiction, Festive Fiction, Christmas Story
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
A beautiful collection of seasonal stories inspired by the classic Christmas carol, from the Sunday Times No. 1 Bestselling Author
‘Uplifting, poignant and astutely observed, this felt like being whirled away into a Regency ball’ Naomi Kelsey
As the Viscount’s famous Twelfth Night Ball draws closer, many of the villagers of Merrywake have a story to tell – we meet a lovelorn vicar and kindly maid reunited after a misunderstanding, three sisters vying for the hand of a dastardly duke, two servants hiding a dangerous secret and a solider making his way home, unsure of the welcome he might receive. As their tales braid together, we see life and love in the village from belowstairs to high society.
Reimagining each of the traditional carol’s gifts, The Twelve Days of Christmas is a collection of festive tales filled with seasonal cheer and heart-warming characters. Will the challenges and mysteries that the Viscount’s guests encounter be resolved by the night of the ball?
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MY REVIEW:
In the run up to Christmas I’ve been all about the festive reads. And in the final few days of the countdown I decided to immerse myself in the gorgeous, heartwarming and enthralling, The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman.
This book is a collection of seasonal stories that reimagine each of the gifts in the eponymous traditional carol as a Christmassy tale based on a delightful and compelling cast of characters that includes a Viscount and Viscountess, their children, friends and staff. There are weddings, a ball, a lovelorn vicar and kindly maid who are reunited years after a misunderstanding tore them apart, a child found in the woods who won’t tell anyone her name, a trio of sisters who are competing to marry a handsome but dastardly duke, a grieving father, and a soldier making his way home after way. It is an inspired choice that Ms. Stokes-Chapman pulls off with finesse, intricately weaving together each of the stories to create a picture of a merry Regency Christmas in an English village. I loved all of the characters and stories, but especially enjoyed Staves three and five.
Exquisitely written, atmospheric, poignant and joyful, this was the perfect book to get me into the Christmas spirit and would be a great gift to find under the tree. Highly recommended.
Rating: 🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢#
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Susan Stokes-Chapman is a bestselling author of historical fiction, known for writing specifically in the Georgian era and marrying meticulous research with rich lyrical prose, often with a Gothic bent.
Her debut novel Pandora was an instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into 16 languages. A loose reinterpretation of the Greek myth Pandora’s Box set in eighteenth-century London, it tells the story of aspiring jewellery artist Dora Blake and her encounter with an ancient vase that her tyrannical uncle is desperately keen to keep secret. Her second novel The Shadow Key – a Gothic tale set against the mysterious Welsh landscape of 1783 – was released in April 2024. A short story collection in the vein of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer was published in September 2025 with a third and fourth novel, The Constellations and The Moth Farm, to follow.
Born in 1985, Susan grew up in the historic city of Lichfield before moving on to study in the coastal town of Aberystwyth, where she graduated with a BA in Education & English Literature and an MA in Creative Writing. She is a SoA Cymru Committee member and lives on the Cambrian Coast in Wales, UK.
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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx
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