A German Christmas

From helpful elves to an enchanting Nutcracker, rediscover the German Christmas tales behind our most iconic festive traditions *A Daily Express Book of the Year* Eine fröhliche Weihnachten -- A Merry Christmas -- made all the more joyful with these literary treats redolent of candle-lit trees, St. Nikolaus, gingerbread, roast goose and red cabbage, tinsel and stollen cakes, accompanied by plenty of schnapps. In this collection, classic works by the Brothers Grimm and Thomas Mann intertwine with more recent stories from writers like Peter Stamm and Martin Suter to bring together the greatest festive tales from Austria, Switzerland and Germany. From a child lost in a snowy, pine-scented forest meeting an unlikely saviour to old lovers reuniting during a last-minute dash across the city for presents, each story creates magical moments of reflection and rediscovery. Bursting with family chaos, carols and yuletide cheer, A German Christmas showcases those works that have helped define the festive period the world over.

Thomas Mann (Contributor) Thomas Mann (1875-1955) is regarded by many as the greatest German novelist of the 20th century. Mann's first major novel, Buddenbrooks, sold over a million copies in Germany alone, before Hitler banned and burned it. Mann fled Germany and spent the latter part of his life living in Switzerland and America. He wrote many essays as well as novels, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. E.T.A. Hoffmann (Contributor) Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman (1776-1822) was one of the most important writers of German Romanticism. His novella The Sandman inspired Delibes' ballet Coppelia, whilst The Nutcracker and the Mouseking became the basis of Tchaikovsky's much-loved Christmas ballet. Martin Suter (Contributor) Martin Suter is a novelist, screenwriter, and newspaper columnist born in Zurich, Switzerland. He has written a dozen novels, many of them bestsellers in Europe and translated into thirty-two languages, including The Last Weynfeldt, as well as Allmen and the Dragonflies and its sequel Allmen and the Pink Diamond. Suter lives with his family in Zurich. Peter Stamm (Contributor) Peter Stamm is the Swiss author of eleven novels, along with several short story collections, plays, and radio dramas. Several of his works have been translated into English. He has received several German language literary prizes, and was short-listed for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize for his full body of work.