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Six Books about Coming Home for the Holidays
Characters face the complexities of coming home in these holiday stories.
Coming home for the holidays can be a heartwarming experience. But what if everything doesn’t go according to plan? From cozy and uplifting to poignant, the novels below all feature characters returning home for the holiday season to unexpected surprises. Whether or not you’re returning home this winter, you’ll enjoy following the twists, turns, and tender moments of these holiday homecoming books.
There’s something so bittersweet when relatives gather for one last celebration before a family home is sold. That’s certainly true in this Irish novel, which follows Rosaleen over three decades as her children grow up and leave for faraway places around the globe. With Rosaleen getting older, she decides to sell their home, and the adult children reunite for a final Christmas where they face both their memories and fragile relationships to one another. Penned by a Booker Prize-winning author, this book is ideal if you’re looking for a holiday family story filled with poignancy.
Spend the winter holidays in Cornwall in this evocative novel and second installment in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet of stories. A family gathers for Christmas at a large Cornish home, including Sophie, an aging woman estranged from her sister and having strange visions. There’s also her adult son, Art, who brings along a woman pretending to be his girlfriend to cover for the fight he had with his real girlfriend. Oddly enough, it’s this fake girlfriend, Lux, who ends up helping heal a rift within the family in this moving and thought-provoking book you won’t soon forget.
If, like me, you occasionally need a break from the often too-perfect world of holiday movies, you’ll find it here in this tender but uplifting story. Wedding singer Mel’s mother struggled with alcoholism, but always made the holidays magic. But two weeks before this Christmas, Mel learns her mother has died. So instead she comes to the home of Connie, her mother’s best friend. Connie tells Mel about her mother’s past, including that she had once been an up-and-coming country music star. You’ll enjoy peeking over Mel’s shoulder as she unwraps this and other family secrets that help her move forward.