katherine woodfine

It was Christmas Eve in the little farmhouse. The air was full of good smells of spices and jam and hot cocoa. No one was expecting any presents, but there would be leaf bread, cookies, Grandmother’s embroidered tablecloth, and they would all do what they could to make the Yuletide bright.

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Tómas picks his way across the lava field, heading home from school; he knows that Christmas won’t be the same this year, not without his grandfather. It is wartime and the town is rationing stock and black-out blinds are in the windows. But Tómas has devised a plan to ensure his grandfather’s stories will still be at the heart of his family’s Christmas – even if it means being braver than a boy ever dreamed he could be. He puts on his grandfather’s jumper to give him courage and offers to do chores for all his neighbours…But when he takes his hard-earned coins to the high street, he discovers that there is only one shop with gifts to sell - thankfully, it is the very best shop of them all: a bookshop!