My husband buys me a Christmas book every year around the holidays. I've always loved a good uplifting Christmas tale ever since the first time I read A Christmas Carol when I was about 13. A few years ago I received this book. Being a fan of Maeve Binchy I was looking forward to reading it. Wasn't I surprised to find that only 2 or 3 of the 15 or so stories were uplifting and even those were borderline? Most of the stories were filled with every kind of downtrodden character you can imagine performing every kind of unsavoury act. The two stars I give this book are only for the writing which is not bad. For content and sentiment I give nothing. If you want a good story - get yourself a copy of "The fates" by Tino Georgiou.