This is a clever romp centers around Violet Baumgartner and her clan of dysfunctional family and friends. Violet is a perfectionist and she wants everything to done exactly her way. When she learns her lesbian daughter, Cerise, is pregnant and has been keeping the news from her, she almost loses her head. And to make matters worse, Cerise and her partner absolutely refuse to reveal the origin of the male genetic material. Because Violet values nothing more than family, this mystery drives her crazy. The story focuses on Violet’s her emotional journey, and that of her daughter, Cerise, her husband, Ed and their dear family friend, Richard. Structured around Violet’s yearly Christmas letters, this is a sweet and satisfying holiday read. Often hilarious and touching on the same page, this lovely book reminds us that no family is perfect, and if they were, wouldn’t that make the holidays supremely boring?

The Birch family is on quarantine for the ten days of Christmas holiday in their run-down country estate because Olivia, the elder daughter, has just arrived home from Africa where she was treating victims of Haag (a made up Ebola like illness). Emma is thrilled to have her globe-trotting daughter home for once, while her father, Andrew, has always had a hard time connecting with his elder daughter and is more ambivalent. Once a war correspondent, he came home at his wife’s insistence and now writes scathing reviews of local restaurants. He brings Phoebe, his younger daughter, along to commiserate over the disastrous meals. A bit self-centered and superficial, Phoebe resents Olivia for pulling focus from her and her upcoming wedding. As the minutes of quarantine tick by, unexpected visitors arrive on the doorstep, forcing long-held secrets to come to the surface and the members of the Birch family to reevaluate themselves and their relationships with each other.