Christmas Holiday

Nov 27, 2025 5:01 PM

Author:W. Somerset Maugham

Christmas Holiday

A coming-of-age novel that moves from genteel British society to the grim underworld of Paris before the war.

At the age of twenty-three, Charlie Mason is endowed with good looks, good manners and a cheerful disposition. Following three years at Cambridge and one working in his father's business, he is looking forward to a jaunt in Paris with one of his oldest friends. Yet Paris is not what he expects - in just a few days his young eyes are opened to the tragedies and ugly dramas of its underworld.

Reviews

Contrasts the complacency of prewar Britain with the nastiness of what was brewing on the Continent. It remains effortlessly readable

—— The Times

Brilliant

—— New York Times

One reads it with a feeling of increasing respect for his mastery of the trade. One has the same delight as in watching a first-class cabinet-maker cutting dovetails

—— Evelyn Waugh

Engrossing psychological thriller...a novel of unusual complexity...Harris, best known for Chocolat, again shows her skill and versatility

—— Mail on Sunday

Beautifully written...a rewarding read

—— Guardian

We all loved Chocolat, and Joanne Harris' new thriller, which follows the lives of three brothers and their dysfunctional families via a series of web journals, has the same beauty with a modern edge. A dark, intricate tale

—— Company

Packed with suspense

—— Woman & Home

Deliciously brilliant

—— In Style

Chilling...will keep you guessing until the end

—— Psychologies

Chilling psychological thriller... Fact and fiction are cleverly blurred, and the intricately plotted spins and turns will keep you guessing till the end

—— Glamour

Intriguing... Real life tangles with his fantasy online world to create a heart-stopping page-turner

—— Good Housekeeping

Blueeyedboy is unquestionably a masterpiece of deception and fantasy

—— Oxford Times

A dark exploration into the mind of an internet-obsessed would-be killer

—— Red

Creepy psychodrama...BB's voice soon takes on the seductive cadences of her Gallic creations. Harris's triumph is to incorporate email-speak into this tale of rural nasties without frightening the horses

—— Independent

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