Gifts

- Blurb -

TWELVE PEOPLE. . . TWELVE GIFTS. . . ONE CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER. . . ' He felt it: the lightness, the expansiveness, the anticipation, the sense that something good was coming. And it was, wasn' t it - though the world was still licking its collective wounds and there was still suffering everywhere, suffering and loneliness and sadness. Despite all this, it was good: it was kindness, it was giving without thought of recompense, it was light in the darkness' Maddy runs the bookshop on Market Square. She' s struggling to choose a gift (a watch? a wine subscription? a weekend bag? all too much? ) for her old school friend Peter, who' s just moved back from London following a messy divorce. Peter doesn' t have a clue what to get for his teenage daughter Chloe - furious with her mother, she' s decided to up sticks and move to Kent with him, but he worries that he really doesn' t know her at all. Chloe wants to buy something special for her grandmother Irene, who lives alone on the other side of town. Irene doesn' t get out much these days, but she' d really like to find the right gift for Alina, who' s so much more than a carer, really - always stops to chat for a bit, have a cup of tea, even if it makes her late. And Alina, meanwhile, has her eye on something for. . .