The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

🎄 Sir John Penlyon is a wealthy landowner. He became a cantankerous, hard hearted old man after the death of, first, his wife, then his first daughter. His youngest daughter's elopement was only the last straw.

🎄 His best friend, Mr. Danby, and his niece, Adella, have persuaded him to hire poor but respectable little children to liven up the Christmas at the mansion. An agreement was binding between the parties. Mr. Danby agreed to bring the hirelings, but Sir John should never ask about their background; while Sir John agreed to pay for everything on condition that the children leave the house immediately after Christmas - no strings attached!

🎄 Three little cute hirelings (a little boy and two little girls) arrive on Christmas Eve. The youngest girl, Moppet, instantly steals Sir John's heart with her sweet precocious nature.

🎄 Christmas celebration in the mansion is as joyful as one hopes; even Sir John's heart is warming up. But when he becomes quite attached to Moppet, something happens that threatens to take her away from him.

🎄 This story is the epitome of what true Christmas is about; joyful, heartwarming, love, forgiveness, and the chance to let go of the past, to right the wrongs, to start all over again with open heart.

🎄 A perfect Christmas read, that I might re-read again and again in the future - maybe as much as A Christmas Carol?...

Rating: 5 / 5

A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories

🎄 A compilation of fourteen Christmas-themed short stories from ten of French most prominent authors, classics as well as contemporary. Old tales as well as modern portrayals of Christmas, are packed into one collection to lift up your holiday spirits. Here are the fourteen stories:

🎄1. The Gift - Jean-Philippe Blondel
An lonely old man who loathes Christmas, unexpectedly met an old crush during a family Christmas dinner (where he's ignored by the family members), and believed that she was sent by his late wife as his last Christmas gift.

🎄 2. St. Anthony and His Pig - Paul Arène
St. Anthony (the Saint himself) tells some children of his temptation story on Christmas Eve. In a vision of lavish pork dishes (black pudding, roast pork and gravy, sausages, etc.), the devil tempted him to kill and cook his only friend, a pig called Barrabas.

🎄 3. The Louis d'Or - François Coppée
A gambler who's lost all his money on Christmas Eve, found a louis d'or (golden louis) inside a sleeping child-beggar's shoe. He stole it to gamble and won back his money, all the while ensuring himself that he's doing it for the child's sake. An interesting story with a touching ending.

🎄 4. Christmas in Algiers - Anatole le Braz
An ex-soldier is reminiscing the Christmas Eve he's spent in Algiers during war, where he was drawn by Arabic chant, and entered a mosque. During the prayer, visions of Christmas in his fatherland and of his lover appeared vividly before his eyes. A story without a plot.

🎄 5. The Wooden Shoe of Little Wolff - François Coppée
A kindhearted little orphaned boy (Wolff) who is treated wickedly by his aunt and bullied by his rich friends gives his wooden shoe to a barefooted child out of compassion, and must bear his aunt's wrath for that, but what a rewarding ending!

🎄 6. Christmas Eve - Guy de Maupassant
A hilarious story of a man who hates Christmas Eve due to an unpleasant event occurred the year before. He invited a stout street girl to supper with him at home. It turns out she's not curvy, but pregnant! She gave birth that night, and the man must bear all the consequences...long after.

🎄 7. Christmas at the Boarding School - Dominique Fabre
The title promises a jolly story, but it's not. It's a stream-of-consciousness styled story about mixed-race Senegal boy, Joseph aka Black Jo, whose parents sent him to France due to "events" (what does it mean?) Homesick and doesn't get along with other boys, he's devastated when he can't come home for Christmas.

🎄 8. Salvette and Bernadou - Alphonse Daudet
A sad Christmas Eve at the hospital for two wounded infantry: Salvette and Bernadou. Salvette spent his last money to grant Bernadou's wishes of celebrating Christmas with wine and bread... just in time! A sad but sweet story.

🎄 9. A Christmas Supper in the Marais - Alphonse Daudet
A seltzer water manufacturer in Marais lives in an old mansion which was formerly Hôtel de Nesmond. On Christmas Eve ghosts of its old time guests arrive with their splendor, partying until morning light creeps upon them. A charming ghost story!

🎄 10. A Miracle - Guy de Maupassant
It's a miracle story that happens on Christmas, when a woman was possessed after eating an egg her husband found mysteriously laid on the snow. A priest then celebrated eucharist, and raised the holy communion over the possessed woman until the devil surrendered. Well, it's not an unusual "miracle", and not really Christmassy!

🎄 11. I Take Supper With My Wife - Antoine Gustave Droz
A middle aged wife arouses a Christmas spirit long forgotten in her husband by giving him a proper Christmas supper, where they are reminiscing their fifty years of marriage. A sweet little story, written in stream-of-consciousness style.

🎄 12. The Lost Child - François Coppée
The best story of this collection, of a millionaire banker whose life is centered upon moneymaking, and only realizes that love is much more important than money when his beloved son is lost, then found, on Christmas Eve. Loving and inspiring!

🎄 13. The Juggler of Notre Dame - Anatole France
A non-Christmas story of a skillful but ignorant juggler who is devoted to the Holy Virgin, that he becomes a monk. Eager to use his talent to praise the Holy Virgin, he performs his juggling before the altar of the Holy Virgin, to the consternation of the other monks.

🎄 14. Noel - Irène Némirovsky
The last story of this collection is the most poignant of all. It shows how Christmas is celebrated by a disintegrated family with a forced artificial joy. It is written as if we are watching disjointed but chronological snippets from movie scenes. A great warning of Christmas spirit which has sadly faded from our world...

🎄 My favorite is The Lost Child, it's the only one of the whole collection which connects itself with the real Christmas. The beautiful ending, in particular, is quite heartwarming:

"...I am compelled to attribute this miraculous event to the influence of the Divine child who came down to earth nearly nineteen centuries ago to command men to love one another."

🎄 On the whole, what a refreshing Christmas read 

this has been!

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie

🎄 Despite the title, I wouldn't dream to categorize this book as a Christmas read. In fact, Agatha Christie wrote this in particular to answer a critic who said that her books are too "pristine", they lack of blood. Hence, this bloody murder mystery - a fantastic novel nevertheless - which is happened to be set on Christmas Eve.

🎄 Simeon Lee is a tyrannical multi-millionaire. He ruled his family with fearmongering. His wife died unhappy, and of his four sons, only Alfred, the meek son, who stays with him and adores him. George left the house, while Harry is the "prodigal son", while David the sensitive boy couldn't forgive his father for making his mother unhappy.

🎄 This Christmas Simeon Lee invites his children to family reunion with their spouses. His Spanish granddaughter, daughter of his dead child also appears, as well as his longtime friend's son. But it's not for reconciliation, no.. far from it. First he let's them know that he's changing his will, then he triggers their anger in a cunning way. He really knows each son's sensitive weakness, and uses it to mercilessly torture them. To George, the money-lover, he cuts his comfortable allowance. To David, the mother's son, he insults his mother. To Alfred (the first son in the Bible's prodigal son parable), he specifically shows his preference to the prodigal son. And to Harry who boasts his manhood, he reproaches his sons as useless.

🎄 That night Simeon Lee was killed in his locked bedroom. But before that, he reported to the police that his collection of rough diamonds was stolen. So, is it a theft-outsider murder or a vengeful-insider one? Of course we know it's the latter because - as Hercule Poirot said from the beginning - the character of the victim determines the murderer identity, and the kind of murder itself.

🎄 All in all, it's a wonderful story. I always love Christie's psychological side in her stories, and this one provides a handful. It reminds me too of the tyrannical matriarch in Appointment with Death. The plot is fantastic, and the twisted ending is a refreshing surprise.

Rating: 4 / 5

The Lucky Spin Number is 6, and The Book Is...

 

CC Spin # 32 has drawn its lucky number: 6. And the lucky book from my list is...

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

Honestly, I was hoping to get no. 1 (Rural Hours) or no. 9 (Dandelion Wine). But The Woodlanders is nice too, at least it's not as bulky as Middlemarch! :)) Plus, I'm planning to read a Hardy next year, anyway.

My only concern is that I'll have to read it from my physical book (instead of e-book), and reading a paperback in January isn't perfect for me due to the lack of afternoon light. You see, between daily chores and full time job, I don't have much time left for reading. I can squeeze about an hour each (working) day by reading while commuting, during lunch break (if possible), and before sleep. The problem with January is that here in Indonesia we are in the midst of monsoon season, when it rains often in the afternoon on my way home. And that makes it almost impossible to read a book. Usually I pick books which I can read from my Playbook reader, and that's how The Woodlanders is a tough choice. I can probably switch to the e-book version, but it seems such a waste when I own a paperback copy!

Anyway, I'm still quite excited to start 2023 with Hardy. Maybe I just need to pick a second read from my e-book TBR list to read only in the afternoon, so that I won't waste my reading time. :)

Which book do you get? Are you satisfied with what you get?

Jane and The Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron #InspiredByClassics

🎄Jane Austen is famous for her wit and intelligence in her writings. Now imagine, what if she's used those qualities to investigate a murder mystery? That's what Stephanie Barron captured in her "In Being Jane Austen Mystery" series. This Christmas story is the first time I heard about this series, but I loved it, so I might read more in the future.

🎄 The Austens were invited to celebrate Christmas at the Vyne, home of William Chute, a prominent figure in British politics. By the Austens I meant Jane, her mother, her sister Cassandra, her brother James and his family. Yes, Barron brought the real Austen's family and friends into the story. Not only that, in fact Barron based her story on Jane Austen's letters and journals.

🎄 It's the year of 1714; Napoleon has been banished to Elba, and John Quincy Adams signed the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve. A messenger was sent to dispatch the treaty, but was killed while staying at the Chutes' while the area was snowbound. Meaning, that the murderer is one of the staying guests. The question is, is it a political murder, or a personal one?

🎄 It being a cozy mystery, the murder itself only happened after one third of the book. And if you worry lest the Christmas vibes is going to be polluted by the murder, don't be! There's a lot of Christmassy things to be enjoyed despite of the murder. Jane and Cassandra's Christmas presents to their niece, for instance. A beautiful doll and its twelve gorgeous handmade outfits, each submitted in twelve days of Christmas, is perhaps what most girls would ever dream of! And don't forget about the hint of a (promising) romance throughout the story..l. 😘

🎄 All in all, if you are a fan of Jane Austen, or at least of 18-19th century literature, and in need of cozy mystery with Christmas vibes, then this book is a perfect one. But diehard fans of crime novel might be disappointed by the plot.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

The Lark by E. Nesbit

💐 The Lark is the last adult novel Edith Nesbit wrote in 1922. It's a charming, delightful, and witty bildungsroman story.

💐 Jane and Lucilla are orphaned cousins who lived in boarding school until they were coming of age. They were supposed to get into a nice income, hitherto managed by their guardian. But the guardian gambled away the money, and so the two young girls must start their independent lives, free from school, with only £500 and a small yet lovely cottage in the village.

💐 Lucilla was disconcerted when they first realized of their predicament, but not Jane. Jane is an optimistic girl, though a bit too imaginative. She believes that "life is a lark", and so it should be how we perceive of life!

💐 The two girls start to earn a living by selling flowers from their little garden. But the garden is soon inadequate for their enterprise. If only they could own the uninhabited mansion house they saw down the road, with a large garden! One day they sneak into the house. Jane fell off the stairs, but luckily a handsome young man who is nephew to the house owner helps her. His name is Rochester. Wait... Jane... and then Rochester? As in... well, you know what I'm talking about, right? Is it a coincidence? I believe not!

💐 The house owner, charmed by the girls' personalities, let them use the garden, which delighted them. The flower enterprise is soon enlarged to a boarding house business.

💐 It's quite delightful to watch the two inexperienced girls entering an adult life with all the blundering, which they try to perceive as an adventure - or as a "lark"!

💐 This book is so refreshing - funny, witty, affectionate, heartwarming. It's hard for not loving and enjoying it. If you love Nesbit's children books, you'll love this one!

Rating: 4,5 / 5

Classic Club Spin # 32 #CCSpin

UPDATED 

I haven’t done CC Spin for quite a long while, but now I’m more than ready to shake up the beginning-of-year-reading. Let’s do it!

1. Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
2. The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas
3. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
4. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
5. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer) by Ahmad Tohari
6. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
7. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
8. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
9. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
10. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
11. No Name by Wilkie Collins
12. Middlemarch by George Eliot
13. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
14. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Moskow by Paul Gallico
15. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
16. Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac
17. The Scarlett Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
18. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
19. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
20. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• The list consists of books that are on my TBR pile, either in physical or e-books.
• I have shuffled the chunky and lighter ones, so.. let's hope for the best!
• Some of them I have intended to read this year, either for reading challenges I’m participating, or for my own reading events/schedule.
• Some of them have appeared in my previous CC Spin (and didn’t get picked), and few were even entered for last challenges but then I changed my mind (sorry, Middlemarch!)
• A Room with a View, I have started reading few chapters a couple of months ago, but I guess my mind was too pre-occupied at that time. Anyway, I’m willing to make another trial.

So, whichever gets to be picked, bring it on! I’m crossing my fingers for Rural Hours, though, so hopefully no. 1 will be lucky 😄!