Henry Jeffreys

Assorted Christmas crackers

Henry Jeffreys reviews stories by P.L. Travers, Laurie Lee, Hans Christian Andersen — and a modern take on Scrooge

issue 12 December 2015

There’s a moment in a child’s life where Christmas begins to lose its magic. Once lost it cannot be regained, but as adults we can catch glimpses of that wonder through our own children, through booze, and most of all through songs, films and stories. Christmas is the one time of the year when it’s not only acceptable to cry over such sentimental things, it’s almost compulsory.

The wonder ceases at around eight or nine years old. Andrew Szlachetko (who publishes this book, £5.99) addresses this in The Age of Not Believing. The hero, Thomas, on his way to Santa’s grotto, is mocked by some other boys for his belief in Father Christmas. Later, full of rage and shame, he hits one of them because ‘the magic has simply disappeared’. But that night he is transported to Semdar (an anagram of ‘dreams’), a Narnia-esque world where he must save Christmas from a malevolent witch called Torga.

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