A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY by Kim Newman (2024)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - when you look a little closer at those nostalgic childhood Christmas memories & realize that maybe there was something sinister going on underneath all along…

Jan 21, 2025

∙ Paid

“‘But Mr Rooke deserved it. He deserved to be got. He was guilty. It's not scary in a story when a bad thing happens to a bad person. It's justice.’
…
‘Oh, poor love, that's not how scary works. To you, it’s all puzzles - paraphenomena. Mysteries with answers. A bad person getting got is scary because everyone thinks they're bad, that they deserve to be got. I'd snuck down to watch “The Cards” despite being told not to. Not murder, but a crime. A trespass. I felt guilty about it. A smidgen of shame was enough to provoke the wrath of higher powers. And lower ones.’
‘You can’t still be scared that the Holly Child will get you.’
‘No. Of course not. That’d be ridiculous. I’m a grown-up. The cards aren’t addressed to me. I’m scared the Holly Child will get you.’”

title: A Christmas Ghost Story: A Chilling Tale for Dark Days and Long Nights

author: Kim Newman

published: 2024

publisher: Titan Books

genre: horror novella—Christmas ghost story

setting: Sutton Mallet (a real village, apparently) in Somerset, England

main themes/subjects: an advent calendar of sinister Christmas cards, paraphenomena, the power/magic of the imagination (including “dark thoughts”) or creative power, parenting & inherited trauma, protecting vs preparing your children, false memories: i.e. the Mandela Effect & Shazaam, “complex hallucinations”, fear of not just the unknown but of the unknowable, modern terrors (climate change, radiation, power outages/isolation/loss of connection), pagan Yuletide imagery (Robin Redbreast, the Holly Child), a fetch, symbols/acts of safety/security (a child’s bedroom, scientific reasoning), Briticisms & socioculturally British-specific references (Brexit, Spar, Tesco, etc.), healing your inner child

representation: autistic-coded child character, single mother

tropes: descent into madness, transformation (into a ~monster)

summary/blurbs/premise:

“A frightening tale of seasonal dread from the acclaimed author of Anno Dracula. Cosy traditions are made twisted and terrifying as a mother and son grapple with their painful past.”

“‘A Christmas Ghost Story,’ she said. ‘I told people once - then I stopped because no one listened. I accepted it as a blip of my imagination. You know how you say my imagination is my super-strength and my own worst enemy. Well, it got away from me that time. “The Cards” was a story I made up the way I make up stories. But this is. . . is not a blip, not an echo. It’s targeted.’”

my thoughts:

This book was my Christmas-morning stocking book gift (different from my Jólabókaflóð book gift 😁) & it was the perfecttt book to read during Twelve Nights as it was sooo dark & creepy & festive. You never know what you’re going to get with a piece of genre-fiction—especially when it’s horror (& written by a yt dude 😅)—so I was very excited to discover how literary & beautifully written this novella—by a new-to-me author—was! I especially loved the theme of childhood memories of Christmas & that feeling of nostalgia that maybe when you look a little closer isn’t as warm & lovely as you remember, or pretend to remember, it being.

I also loved the idea of the Christmas Cruels & the songs & poetry in the book. Very much felt like things Krampus’s Belsnickles might sing & now I want a whole album of them.

I also recently finished Severin’s All the Haunts Be Ours: A Folk Horror Storybook anthology edited by Kier-La Janisse & Newman had a story in there that was also set in Sutton Mallet & dealt with the same sort of themes of songs, stories, & memory & it was excellent. I’m very excited to read more of his work now & will definitely finally check out his Anno Dracula series.

i would recommend this book to readers who love a good spooky seasonal Christmas horror story. this book is best read under a huge pile of blankets as a winter storm rages outside.

“In the picture, the Holly Child and the Jingle Basterds had scarves and hats and hymn-sheets. The wooden sergeant-major held a lantern on a pole. Their mouths were open in Os of ululation. They weren't carollers. They were curse-chanters, putting the Wickingses of Six Elms House on notice.
No quarter, no mercy - and a happy New Year.”

final note: I’m not sure I ever quite got who Fillip was though… my guess is that he was her dog who maybe ate one of the sinister advent calendar chocolates with the Holly Child seeds in it & turned into a monster? Idk idk

CW // animal cruelty, child abuse, mental illness, & it’s just generally very scary

season: Advent, Christmas, Yuletide, Internächte, etc. etc.

music pairing:

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A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY by Kim Newman (2024)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - when you look a little closer at those nostalgic childhood Christmas memories & realize that maybe there was something sinister going on underneath all along…

“‘But Mr Rooke deserved it. He deserved to be got. He was guilty. It's not scary in a story when a bad thing happens to a bad person. It's justice.’

…

‘You can’t still be scared that the Holly Child will get you.’

‘No. Of course not. That’d be ridiculous. I’m a grown-up. The cards aren’t addressed to me. I’m scared the Holly Child will get you.’”

title: A Christmas Ghost Story: A Chilling Tale for Dark Days and Long Nights

genre: horror novella—Christmas ghost story

summary/blurbs/premise:

my thoughts:

“In the picture, the Holly Child and the Jingle Basterds had scarves and hats and hymn-sheets. The wooden sergeant-major held a lantern on a pole. Their mouths were open in Os of ululation. They weren't carollers. They were curse-chanters, putting the Wickingses of Six Elms House on notice.

No quarter, no mercy - and a happy New Year.”

further reading:

Writing Into Reality—

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