The 5 Most Christmassy Books We Could Get Our Hands On To Get You In The Festive Spirit

Milly Johnson is a bona fide commercial blockbuster author and her latest, festive offering is a treat indeed. Three women all find themselves pregnant under very different circumstances as Christmas approaches. One is proprietor of the Winterworld theme back, facing her busiest time of year, one has mistaken pregnancy for menopause and is suddenly looking at a life far different from that she was expecting, and the third is a surrogate who discovers the couple she's helping are on the rocks. It's nearly unbearably cheesy but actually has a nice bite to it, making it a properly juicy Christmas novel. and …

One of Christmas's bleakest stories, but encased in one of the season's prettiest packages. In this cautionary tale about stopping to appreciate the moment you're in, the titular fir tree longs to grow up and move on. He can't believe his luck when he's chopped down and taken indoors to be garlanded in decorations and gifts, the whole family gathering round him. He thinks it's his future forever, be-fore being despatched to the attic to rot not long after. Yikes. Luckily this is a gorgeous looking green and gold hardback, rendered covetable by Marimekko collaborator's Sanna Annukka's charming illustrations.

A beautiful collection of short loosely autobiographical stories from the author of Mary Poppins - a writer we all know better since Saving Mr Banks. Originally written as gifts for friends, the three sto-ries are as charming, darkly humorous and strangely moving as the novels which made Travers famous, but each with a Christmassy theme. The book itself is a tiny, beautiful hardback, with illus-trations by the same artists as the iconic Poppins series. It would serve as well as festive decora-tion as something wonderful to read on a quiet afternoon when seasonal merrymaking is all a bit much.

The fifth and final novel in the bestselling Cazalet series sees the family descend en masse in Home Place, their Sussex country seat. It's Christmas, the matriarch has just died, and we are treated to one last visit to the Cazalet world. Like all family Christmases, there are tensions, secrets and a general sense of heightened emotions, but under Howard's masterful guiding hand this is much more than a mere Aga saga. It's a treat to see characters that fans of the series will know so well, and its Christmas setting makes it feel all the more (realistically) festive.

The BBC is screening a glossy adaptation starting on Boxing Day but there are fewer treats more Christmassy than getting yourself braced for the festivities by sneaking away with this beautiful clothbound edition. The ultimate story-about-sisters, it sees Meg, Beth, Jo and Amy coping in their father's absence during the American Civil War. Issues of identity, ambition, love (and some tedious domesticity) are dealt with, as well as epic sibling rivalry and boundless love. If you can look past one of the sisters CLEARLY marrying the wrong man, we're all treated to a surprise on Christmas Day in the final chapter.