Last Christmas

by Julia Williams

[Leah]

Cat Tinsall is worried her marriage is in tatters. Not only that but her alter-ego “Happy Homemaker” is driving her insane, her children are a bit wild and her mother is becoming forgetful. Noel Tinsall, Cat’s husband, is also concerned about the state of his marriage and is also incredibly worried that he’s going to lose his job. Over in Hope Christmas, Marianne Moore is reeling from being dumped and is trying to overcome her broken heart. Gabriel North is also harbouring a broken heart after his wife upped and left. Can he and his son Stephen pull through? Can all four come through the year unscathed? And just who is Ralph Nicholas and what binds him to our four main characters?\

Julia Williams is a fantastic author and I loved her first two books Pastures New and Strictly Love. Julia is very good at weaving together the lives of 3 or 4 main characters who at first seem to be unrelated but as the book progresses it turns out they are all connected in some way. Julia also manages to keep lots of plots up in the air and never seems to drop the ball. Last Christmas is no different and I enjoyed it immensely. It’s probably her best, and most complex, book to date.

The book starts with a prologue which features Marianne and her new boyfriend Luke as they’re driving towards Hope Christmas and Luke’s family home. On arriving, they happen upon Luke’s grandfather, Ralph. The book is then split into four parts and each of the parts begins with what happened during last year’s Christmas to all four characters from December 22nd to December 25th. It was an interesting way to divide the book but one that worked incredibly well. I’m usually not a huge fan of books set in parts but for Last Christmas it works well.

After having our first flashback of what happened on December 22nd last year, we come back to the present and find there have been a few changes; Marianne is now single, Cat is much more harrassed, Gabriel is still lonely but is slowly healing and Noel is worried about his job. As the story unfolds we find out what happened between Marianne and Luke and what happened to the others during the previous Christmas. It’s a slow reveal but that just makes the book so much better.

The present day storylines are plentiful with the main one, I would say, being the threat to Hope Christmas from Marianne’s ex, Luke. I thought it was a very clever storyline and it carried the book well. Julia’s writing meant that I felt for both the town itself as well as all of its residents. There are many other subplots woven into the story which all add to the readability of the book as I was kept guessing about everything throughout. My favourite storyline, and one of the most poignant I’ve read, was one concerning Cat’s mother, Louise. It was a very interesting plot and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading of. The ubiquitous Ralph Nicholas makes regular appearances throughout the book and I rather enjoyed seeing him popping up every now and again.

I absolutely loved all of the characters in Last Christmas. From Cat and Noel in London to all of those in Hope Christmas. Cat was your typically frazzled mother of four but I liked her immensely. The way she coped with her mother’s situation was incredibly true-to-life and I found it incredibly sad reading. I felt for Noel, Cat’s husband, because I could see how he felt left out – however I could also see Cat’s point of view also. Their love did seem to shine through but I rather wondered if love was enough? I liked Marianne immediately and her opening present day chapter sees her throw up on a strange man’s shoes, so I was immediately sucked into her story. I loved how her and Gabriel’s friendship came about and they just seemed so relaxed with each other. Gabriel was by far my favourite character. He, like Cat, had to deal with a loved one being ill as well as a young son, Stephen, and I just loved him. I knew his ex-wife, Eve, would pop up eventually and I found her to be more likeable than I thought. There were many other characters integral to the story, Cat’s mum Louise whom I loved, and felt incredibly sorry for, when I realised what was happening to her; Noel’s mum is a regular, as well as all of the folk from Hope Christmas who are desperate to stop Luke wrecking their small town. Ralph was rather mysterious but I absolutely loved him; her certainly made the book better as far as I was concerned.

Hope Christmas sounds like a fantastic place to live. Julia’s description of the small town were fantastic and I wanted to move there immediately. It seemed like quite a community and all of the townsfolk looked out for each other. I certainly didn’t want to see the eco-town come to fruition and hated Luke with a vengeance. It was the homely feel to Hope Christmas that made the book for me. I could see why Noel fell in love with the town. It sounded truly magical.

The writing as always was fantastic. It’s told in the third-person, like all of Julia’s books, and alternates from Cat to Noel, from Gabriel to Marianne. It’s easy to make the switch between all of the characters and I felt that four was the perfect number of main characters for the book. By the way, for all you Wham! fans, each “part” page has a lyric from Last Christmas. I truly enjoyed Last Christmas and wholly recommend you give it a read. It does deal with some difficult issues but Julia deals with them in such a way it makes me easier to understand I have to say. Last Christmas is a perfect book to read this Christmas!