Mistletoe Malice
'Christmas literary comfort and joy' (Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss)
Published on 2. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-571-37826-5 (ISBN)
Description
A dysfunctional family reunites for the Christmas holiday from hell in this rediscovered festive classic with fangs for fans of Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor and Stella Gibbons.
'Literary comfort and joy. It got me out of mourning for the Cazelet Chronicles.' Meg Mason (author of Sorrow and Bliss)
'A stylish and penetrating comedy of manners. My favourite Christmas book by far - and you can read it all year round.' Rachel Joyce (author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry)
'A horribly delicious snapshot of post-war family life, in which tensions ensnare the reader in tinsel-covered barbed wire.' Janice Hallett (author of The Appeal)
'I loved it.' Wendy Cope (author of The Orange)
The fire is on, sherry poured, presents wrapped, and claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas. While snow falls, a tyrannical widowed matriarch presides over her unruly brood. Her niece tends to her whims, but fantasises about eloping; and as more guests arrive, each bringing their secret truths and dreams, the Christmas tree explodes, a brawl erupts, an escape occurs - and their 'midwinter madness' climaxes ...
'Literary comfort and joy. It got me out of mourning for the Cazelet Chronicles.' Meg Mason (author of Sorrow and Bliss)
'A stylish and penetrating comedy of manners. My favourite Christmas book by far - and you can read it all year round.' Rachel Joyce (author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry)
'A horribly delicious snapshot of post-war family life, in which tensions ensnare the reader in tinsel-covered barbed wire.' Janice Hallett (author of The Appeal)
'I loved it.' Wendy Cope (author of The Orange)
The fire is on, sherry poured, presents wrapped, and claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas. While snow falls, a tyrannical widowed matriarch presides over her unruly brood. Her niece tends to her whims, but fantasises about eloping; and as more guests arrive, each bringing their secret truths and dreams, the Christmas tree explodes, a brawl erupts, an escape occurs - and their 'midwinter madness' climaxes ...
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
250 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-37826-5 (9780571378265)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kathleen Farrell
Mistletoe Malice
'Christmas Literary Comfort and Joy' (Meg Mason, Author of Sorrow and Bliss)
E-Book
10/2023
Faber & Faber
€11.99
Available for download
Person
Kathleen Farrell was born in London in 1912 and educated at a convent school. Her first book, Johnny's Not Home from the Fair (1942), was written while working for the wartime secretary-general of the Labour party, after which she founded a prestigious literary agency, eventually sold to a rival firm. Farrell lived in Hampstead for twenty years with her partner Kay Dick - reviewer, editor and author of They (1977) - in a literary circle including Ivy Compton-Burnett, Stevie Smith and Olivia Manning. She wrote stories as well as five more novels - Mistletoe Malice (1951), Take It to Heart (1953), The Cost of Living (1956), The Common Touch (1958), and Limitations of Love (1962). Farrell's fiction was critically acclaimed for its savage wit and unsentimental humour, compared to Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen, but failed to find a popular audience, and - by the time of her death in Hove in 1999 - she had fallen into obscurity.