A Christmas Memory

Jan 3, 2026 3:09 AM

Author:Truman Capote

A Christmas Memory

Tender and bittersweet, these stories by Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's,

are a captivating tribute to the Christmas season

'We set about choosing a tree. "It should be," muses my friend, "twice as tall as a boy. So a boy can't steal the star."'

Selected from across Truman Capote's writing life, these Christmas stories range from nostalgic, semi-autobiographical portraits of childhood to more unsettling tales of darkness beneath the festive glitter. In the Deep South of Capote's youth, a young boy, Buddy, and his beloved maiden 'aunt' Sook forage for pecans and whiskey to bake into fruitcakes, make kites - too broke to buy gifts - and rise before dawn to prepare feasts for a ragged assembly of guests; while in other stories, a lonely woman has a troubling encounter in wintry New York and an unlikely festive miracle, of sorts, occurs at a local drugstore.

Brimming with feeling, these sparkling tales convey both the wonder and the chill of Christmas time.

Reviews

Every creative person should read this short book. No rules are laid down, but for those with an open mind there are hints galore and the occasional precept.

—— Literary Review

A fascinating glimpse of the peculiar writerly life

—— Sunday Times *Books of the Year*

One of the most read authors around the world... You end this collection of beautiful essays vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again.

—— Guardian, *Book of the Day*

A quirky, chatty collection of essays by the award-winning Japanese novelist... this charming collection opens up much of the Japanese master's thinking on a life of luck, hard work, and joy in his long vocation as a novelist.

—— Irish Independent

Intriguing glimpses inside the singular mind of Murakami

—— Sean O’Hagan , Observer

Some of [Murakami's] best books are non-fiction: Underground, about the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and this year's Novelist as a Vocation, a book of essays about his life, writing method and the wellsprings of his extravagant imagination.

—— Richard Lloyd Parry, Books of the Year , New Statesman

At any moment on our planet there are at most a few dozen novelists working with great power, for a broad audience, with the material of consciousness, which is what the novel is so uniquely good at handling, how it feels to be inside us, what it means, the devastations and beauties it brings. Murakami is one of them.

—— New York Times Book Review

It's safe to say there is no one like Murakami

—— Literary Review

A true original

—— The Times

A master storyteller

—— Sunday Times

Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers

—— New York Times Book Review

One of the most influential novelists of his generation.

—— Observer

Murakami is one of the best writers around

—— Time Out, on Norwegian Wood

'The world's most popular cult novelist'

—— Guardian

Murakami's... latest offering, Novelist As A Vocation... offers a rare glimpse into his thoughts on writing... There's something magnetic that draws you into the narrative, so by the time the last page is turned, you're invested more than you realised

—— UK Press Syndication

The Raptures is perfect and generous and beautifully crafted and everything I demand from a book. And Hannah, brave and brilliant Hannah -- I've made up a room for her in my heart forever. I'll be putting it in every hand this Christmas.

—— KARL GEARY

An instantly compelling and novel take on a fractured society, The Raptures is a captivating, clever book by a truly original writer

—— Sarah Gilmartin

A compelling page-turner rendered in exquisite prose

—— Shelley Harris

Whip-smart and thoughtful with a dark vein of humour. Compulsively readable. I loved it

—— Christina Sweeney-Baird

An important novel . . . Jo Harkin does a masterful job . . . this mind-bending debut will certainly make you think

—— Book Reporter

A terrific read - I enjoyed it tremendously

—— The Ryan Tubridy Show, RTÉ Radio 1

Jo Harkin has created a speculative novel which digs into our instinctual curiosity and our need to know everything

—— Irish Examiner

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