Aboard a plane bound for Australia, in ‘Travelling hopefully’, two strangers find themselves sharing their fears and laughing each other into courage; for Nick and Janet in ‘The Christmas barramundi’, meeting at the Sydney Fish Markets was a perfect introduction…what could go wrong?; fourteen-year-old Orla decides to record Christmas Day with her new Polaroid camera in ‘The ten snaps of Christmas’ but no-one is prepared for what she sees; and Ethel, in the title story, is assured by her family that this year the usual massive Christmas preparations won’t be left up to her, that this year it will be different.
Set in Australia and around the world, these delightful stories bring us closer to the families, friends, lovers and the lonely of Maeve Binchy’s imagination, drawing us into their lives with her usual wisdom and generosity.