Tidings: A Christmas Journey - Hardcover

Padel, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178474106X ISBN 13: 9781784741068

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2016

Synopsis

"Come with me
to St Pancras Old Church, on a little London hill..."

It’s Christmas Eve and on this enchanted night Charoum, the Angel of Silence, can speak. As night turns to day, he unfolds a resonant story of a little girl, a homeless man and a fox...

In the tradition of Charles Dickens and Dylan Thomas, Tidings takes us on a journey into the heart of Christmas, showing us celebrations down the ages and across the globe – as dawn sweeps from East Australia to Bethlehem, from London to the Statue of Liberty in New York.

This is Christmas in all its magic, reminding us that it is a time not only of good tidings, but of loneliness and longing, compassion and connection.

Beautifully illustrated and exquisitely musical, Tidings is a poem to be read out loud and cherished.

About this title

About the Author:

Ruth Padel is a prize-winning poet, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Reader in Poetry at King’s College London. Her most recent collections include Darwin: A Life in Poems on her great-great-grandfather Charles Darwin, The Mara Crossing on migration and immigration, and Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth on the Middle East. She lives in London.

Review:

"A literary and emotional feat . . . Tidings is an eloquent reminder that life is hard, kindness is all and that the Christmas story goes deep . . . A moving poem just asking to be read aloud, with different people playing each part – angel, child, tramp, fox and helper – this Christmas." —Kate Kellaway, Observer

"[This] exquisite-looking hardback is a lovely reminder of seasonal magic." —Joanne Finney, Good Housekeeping, Book of the Year

"It’s not just a special seasonal book, it is a real challenge to both commercialized and sentimental versions of Christmas." —Universe

"Magical . . . a literary and emotional feat (elegantly illustrated in red, white, black and gold). Padel is too wise to allow sentimentality to tug at her sleeve. What she does, brilliantly, is to see off the sense of resignation that can set in at Christmas. Tidings is an eloquent reminder that life is hard, kindness is all and that the Christmas story goes deep. No sermon, this, but a moving poem just asking to be read aloud. " —Kate Kellaway, Observer

"A gorgeous Christmas poem . . . meant to be read aloud, explores what Christmas might mean to us today – not just a time of celebration but also of conflict and loneliness. Lyrically beautiful, and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Sarah Young." —Stylist

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 178474106X
• ISBN 13: 9781784741068
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 80