An English Christmas'If I could work my will' said Scrooge indignantly 'Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.' This year go carol singing in the Cotswolds with Laurie Lee or attend church with a grumpy Samuel Pepys. Make plum puddings for bemused French villagers with Elizabeth David; go present shopping with Virginia Woolf or eat far too much with Agatha

Readers will relish these new twists on familiar folklore characters including Johnny Appleseed Annie Oakley Paul Bunyan John Henry and many more

historian Nicholas Morton focuses on a period of bitter conflict between the Franks and their Turkish enemies

only to be cornered at the city gate by a band of the Overlord's elite guards

The writing was black

they'll need all the time they can get to save a dying magical world

He died in 2014

With her final tour in Afghanistan over

Fact-packed

But the Skull Bearers are swift and ruthless

salads and sides

Inspiring and revelatory

development