Christmas Days

12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days

By: Jeanette Winterson

Narrated by: Jeanette Winterson, Imogen Church

For years Jeanette Winterson has loved writing a new story at Christmastime, and here she brings together 12 of her brilliantly imaginative, funny, and bold tales. For the Twelve Days of Christmas - a time of celebration, sharing, and giving - she offers these 12 plus one: a personal story of her own Christmas memories.

These tales open a portal into the spirit of the season, when time slows down and magic starts to happen. From trees with mysterious powers to a tinsel baby that talks, philosophical fairies to flying dogs, a haunted house to a disappearing train, Winterson's innovative stories encompass the childlike and spooky wonder of Christmas, perfect for listening to by the fire with loved ones or while traveling home for the holidays.

Enjoy the season of peace and goodwill, mystery, and a little bit of magic courtesy of one of our most fearless and accomplished writers.

©2016 Jeanette Winterson (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Christmas stories

I like some of the recipes as it relates to the story and people who made them. I thought the number of ghost stories or haunted houses was a bit much. But I liked the orphan story-revenge on bad people. Overall it wasn't a romance and it was about the holidays.

Silly and Boring

I skipped many of these stories, especially the recipes! The stories are silly, boring or very good...all at different times and nothing I expected. Enter at your own risk!

Light fare for Christmas

I like the fairy tale element of many of the stories. They are creative, but somehow lack depth. Although the ghost stories are interesting, I wasn’t drawn in enough to be scared. The short stories with mainly one character are a bit flat. Maybe I was expecting too much…

I was charmed and spooked and made thoughtful

These stories made you feel and think, but in a way that seemed more personal than the usual Christmas tale. The author made you feel like you were there with her. I wish she and Mrs. Winterson had been able to acknowledge and accept those miracles in each other sooner. The world has its hold on us, and amidst the toil and our efforts at making sense of it all, as the author reminds us, miracles are inconvenient.

Spirited Christmas Listen

This was an interestingly odd, off beat and at times charmingly engaging collection of stories. The book starts with the author's fascinating overview of the history of Christmas--something I really enjoyed. Then, the collection alternates between a short story narrated beautifully by Church and a short feast chapter read by the author. Winterson uses a very conversational style with the stories and recipes that make up the feast portions of the book. I loved her chatty advice about cooking and all her wonderful back stories about UK Christmas celebrations that went with the feasts.

My favorite of the short stories was the first in the collection, titled the Spirit of Christmas. This was magic filled and was so well written that it made me want to read more of Winterson's non-Christmas writing. For me, this chapter also made the whole audiobook worth the price of admission when grouped with the feast chapters.

Now we get to the odd part, the part that caused several friends to quit the book with a shudder. I hate spoilers but I do have to warn you that the author included a fair number of very scary, creepy ghost stories in the collection. At first, I thought she was following along with a Dickensian theme of ghosts at Christmas time with a Christmas message. In reality, the ghost stories were set at Christmas time, but often were not really about Christmas. It's hard to explain, and I'm still unsure about some of the stories.

I'll be honest, I skipped through several chapters and occasionally just listened to the feast sections. This was definitely not a book that I would suggest for family listening during the holidays--a bit too strange. I think in the end the theme may have been about putting things right at Christmas time, but that's just a guess.

I plan on listening again next year and maybe then I'll get through every story. Recommended if you like ghost stories or if you are willing to take a chance on something unusual. Just keep in mind that you might have to skip a few parts here and there.