The Magic of Christmas

Trisha Ashley

Oct 2011 · Sold by HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

A deliciously seasonal and heart-warming tale from the Sunday Times bestseller

In the pretty Lancashire village of Middlemoss, Lizzy is on the verge of leaving her serially unfaithful husband, Tom, when tragedy strikes. Good job she has welcome distractions in the form of her Christmas Pudding Circle, a circle of friends swapping seasonal recipes, and a simmering rivalry with cookery writer Nick Pharamond – a rivalry set to come to boiling point after he snatched the Best Mince Pie prize away from her at the village show.

Meanwhile, the whole village is gearing up for the annual Mystery Play which takes place on Boxing Day. But who will play Adam to Lizzy’s Eve? Could it be the handsome and charismatic soap actor Ritch Rainford, or could someone closer to home win her heart? Whatever happens, it will certainly be a hard act to follow next year!

Previously published as Sweet Nothings, but now with fabulous new extra material.

Readers adore The Magic of Christmas

‘Trisha Ashley’s characters appear as real people that you would love to get to know with heroines that known their own mind ... a warm and cosy romance that is perfect for cold, wet and windy days curled up in front of the fire.’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Trisha writes beautifully and has a strong comic streak. Her heroine was feisty and all her characters interesting. Totally recommend!’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Full of Trisha Ashley’s warm humour and trademark wit ... ideal for fireside reading on cold winter evenings with a mince pie beside you.’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I enjoy all of Trisha Ashley’s books, but this is one of my absolute favourites. I return to it again and again when I need a bit of positive escapism!’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Trisha Ashley is a brilliant writer that makes her characters spring to life. This cleverly written story has romance, mystery, self sufficiency, recipes and the magic of Christmas all rolled into one! Cannot recommend enough.’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wonderfully written as always. Lots of twists and turns with fantastic characters who come to life as you read.’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘The characters are believable and endearing, with the bonus of being down to earth enough to identify with.’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ratings and reviews

This is the first ever Trisha Ashley book I read and bought it purely because it was a on a 2 for £3 deal at the local Tesco about 4 years ago and the glitter strewn cover enticed me. Well, now I have finally caved in and bought it for my beloved Kindle and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it for at least the fourth time. Lizzie Pharamond lives in an estate cottage gifted by her Uncle (by marriage) to her and her husband Tom and son Jasper. Moving in the cottage name was quickly changed to Perseverance Cottage as this was the name of the first marital home of the Pharamonds and also the title of a cult series of books that Lizzie pens. Marriage isn't all it is cracked up to be and Tom is more often away than he is home but this seems to suit Lizzie and her son and gives her plenty of time to grow her fruit and veg, get on with the never-ending pickling, brewing, baking, chutney making and any other food storage technique she can think of to make the most of her bounty. As the book opens, Tom suffers a fatal accident and it looks very much as though the local constabulary believe Lizzie could be complicit as it was her car he was driving when it happened. Much of the book is devoted to Lizzie coping with sudden widowhood by throwing herself into both the Christmas Pudding Circle (making and putting together Christmas Hampers for the local elderly population) and the Middlemoss Mystery Plays. Told from Lizzie's perspective and "in her own words" the story is lively and amusing. No moping and weeping about bemoaning her fate for our Lizzie and with a couple of likely suitors looming on the horizon the hope of romance is there too. Running from Mid-September to the Boxing Day performance of the Middlemoss Mysteries you feel really drawn in to Lizzie's life and the characters leap off the page as fully formed people. One of the things I love about Trisha Ashley books is that her characters are drawn very sparingly but they appear as real people that you would love to get to know, even the decidedly nasty ones. I also like the fact that they are not "soppy" romances with needy, weak women who need a man to complete them. These are heroines that know their own mind and value their independence. The Magic Of Christmas is a warm and cosy romance that is perfect for cold, wet and windy days curled up in front of the fire.

this book is one of my favourites after not being appreciated by her husband I felt kind of bad when he died but then she fell in love again at the end

First book I have read by this author, characters were believable , well told story looking forward to reading more x

About the author

Trisha lives in beautiful North Wales, together with the neurotic Border Collie recently foisted onto her by her student son and an equally neurotic but also vain, bad-tempered and chancy Muse. Her previous book, Twelve Days of Christmas, was a Sunday Times bestseller in 2010.

For more information about Trisha, please visit her Facebook fan page or follow her on Twitter (trishaashley)