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The quaintness of fictional English villages is often extended to the characters inhabiting them – and widowed sisters Hester and Harriet are no exception. In this delightfully British story, the elderly women live together, contentedly filling their days with jigsaw puzzles, knitting, bridge, and their love of wine and food – Hester as cook and Harriet as avid consumer.
As Christmas Day approaches, the sisters grudgingly agree to spend the occasion with their well-meaning but boring cousin George and his culinary-challenged wife Isabelle. So it is with some relief when, en route to dinner, they come across a desperate young woman and her baby sheltering in a bus shelter, and feel the only charitable thing to do is to skip the festive meal and take the strangers back home.
The young mother, Daria, is clearly afraid to reveal anything about herself or her baby boy, Milo, and the mystery deepens when a shifty stranger turns up, trying to discover Daria’s whereabouts. To add to the complexity of this Christmas, George and Isabelle’s disgruntled teenage son arrives on the doorstep, begging sanctuary from his overbearing parents. Toss in local vagrant Finbar, plus an ageing village Lothario, and life takes an exciting turn for Hester and Harriet as they embark on subterfuge and investigation to discover the truth about Daria and Milo. Perhaps a little overlong, this is nonetheless an engaging read.
