Holiday Literary

At the Great New York Cookie Swap, pastry chefs bake up their very best for charity. Clare is in charge of the beverage service, and her famous Fa-la-la-la Lattes make the gathering even merrier. But her high spirits come crashing down when she discovers the battered body of a hard-working baker's assistant. Police suspect a serial attacker whose escalating crimes have become known as "the Christmas Stalkings". Clare'sboyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn, finds reason to believe even more sinister forces are involved.

The Winter Carnival always brings holiday cheer to picturesque Shady Creek, Vermont. At the center of the glittering decorations and twinkling lights is booklover and pub owner Sadie Coleman, creating original cocktails, hosting a literary trivia night, and cheering on loyal employee Melanie "Mel" Costas as she competes in the ice carving competition. But holiday cheer can't compete with former resident and renowned chef Freddy Mancini showing off his sculpting skills. During the contest's artists' break, Mel's tools disappear...and Freddy's found dead with Mel's pick in his chest.

Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie Walsh has always done the right thing - that is until the day she leaves her husband and takes refuge with her friend Emily, a screenwriter in Los Angeles - a city where even the palm trees are skinny.

Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts novels are as lovingly crafted and heartwarming as the homemade quilts featured prominently in each story. The milestone 20th entry in this charming series, The Giving Quilt chronicles the week after Thanksgiving- Quiltsgiving- as residents of Elm Creek Manor find creative ways to answer the question, ''Why do you give?''

A wealthy and depressed man (thanks to the economy, he's not quite rich enough to expand his cache of paintings by Vincent Van Guy, the famed Dutch realist) bound for Christmas in the tropics is abruptly summoned home to North Dakota to visit an ailing aunt. He arrives just in time to be trapped there by a blizzard. The electricity goes out, and when it does, figures from his childhood appear, and historical figures too, for a festive candlelit holiday.

Volume 2 of the Nobel Prize-winner’s towering masterpiece: the story of Solzhenitsyn's entrance into the Soviet prison camps, where he would remain for nearly a decade. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum.

The (black) magical season is here - and whether it's a solstice seance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!

Volume 1 of the gripping epic masterpiece, Solzhenitsyn's chilling report of his arrest and interrogation, which exposed to the world the vast bureaucracy of secret police that haunted Soviet society. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum.

When I first met Will Darcy at a charity gala, he started out as the hot guy who ran into me as I came out of the ladies’ room; however, by the end of the evening, he was certainly not my Prince Charming! For that matter, I doubt he could be considered anyone’s ideal man. My friend Char calls him a “tosser,” but I have a few more interesting names for him, all NSFW of course. The problem is that since the gala, I keep having to spend time with him. For one thing, he’s the older brother of Gigi, who comes into my bakery and café multiple times a week.

A new baby is on the way for Ethic and Alani, but the stress of her high-risk pregnancy is weighing on the couple heavily. When the routine of their love changes, Alani's hormones send them on an emotional roller coaster filled with suspicion and miscommunication. With challenges from the children they have already on the horizon and Ethic's involvement with Nyair's city council run, things in the Okafor household are in disarray.

It all begins with a father telling a story to his son on Christmas Eve. But this isn't your typical Christmas story. The father admits to his son that he's taken a life but he won't say whose - not yet. One week earlier, in a hospital late at night, the man met a five-year-old girl with cancer. She's a smart kid - smart enough to know that she won't beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

Years ago Lady Louisa Windham acted rashly on a dare from her brother, and that indiscretion is about to come to light. She knows her reputation will never survive exposure. Just as she's nearly overwhelmed by her dilemma, Sir Joseph Carrington offers himself to her as a solution. But Sir Joseph has secrets as well, and as he and Louisa become entangled with each other, their deceptions begin to close in on them both.

Just weeks before Christmas, severe wintry weather damages the church hall hosting the Christmas Boutique - an annual sale of handcrafted gifts and baked goods that supports the county food pantry. Determined to save the fundraiser, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson offers to hold the event at Elm Creek Manor, her ancestral family estate and summertime home to Elm Creek Quilt Camp.

In An Irish Country Christmas, the third book in Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Books, Barry Laverty, M.B., is looking forward to his first Christmas in the cozy village of Ballybucklebo, at least until he learns that his sweetheart, Patricia, might not be coming home for the holidays. That unhappy prospect dampens his spirits somewhat, but Barry has little time to dwell on his romantic disappointments. Christmas may be drawing nigh, but there is little peace to be found on earth, especially for a young doctor plying his trade in the emerald hills and glens of rural Ireland.

The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family's typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

The intrepid women of The Hot Flash Club are back for the holidays, soothing jingled nerves and stressed shoppers in their exclusive spa and celebrating the joys of the season. In her witty and delightfully wisecracking prose, Nancy Thayer tells a heartwarming tale packed with fun, secrets, romance, and an ample dose of good cheer.

Chicago artist Geraldo Lopez faces a bleak and lonely Christmas night by himself. As he locks up his studio in Rogers Park, the snow begins to pile up, and he trudges back to his quiet apartment. Before he gets inside, however, he stumbles upon a figure laying in the snow. Upon closer examination, he discovers a young lady who is passed out and in dire need of attention. This is a story about despair, the isolation experienced during the holidays, and ultimately: hope and redemption. I hope you enjoy my little story. It is dedicated to my husband, Juan, with much love. Happy Holidays to you...

During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.

Snowed in with the man I thought I was over. And the secret I kept to protect us both is about to tear everything apart. Five years ago, Nicholas made it clear—no kids, no future, no second chances. So when I found out I was pregnant, I did what I thought was right. I let him go. I let everything go. Now we’re trapped together in a cozy Christmas lodge with nowhere to run, and the past isn’t staying buried. He doesn’t know what I gave up. What it cost me. But the truth has a way of breaking through the cracks. And when it does— Christmas won't be the only thing forever changed.

In 1860 the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow's classic Revolutionary War poem, "Paul Revere's Ride", was less than a month hence, and the country's grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed.