A Boy Called Christmas

Now a major film

By: Matt Haig

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

NARRATED BY STEPHEN FRY

You are about to hear the true story of FATHER CHRISTMAS . . .

If you believe that some things are impossible,
you should walk away right now.
(Because this story is FULL of impossible things.)
Are you still there?
Good.

Then let us begin . . .

Critic reviews

"Read it!"

"A new festive classic. Funny, sad and brilliant. It turns out we only knew half the story" (SIMON MAYO)

"The Christmas book of the year"

"Matt Haig puts the Happy back into Christmas" (JEANETTE WINTERSON)

"Like enjoying the warmth of a good fire on a cold day . . . perfect for Christmas is every way"

"Matt Haig has written the most evergreen, immortal Christmas story to be published for decades. Future generations will receive the same comfort and joy from A Boy Called Christmas that they derive from mince pies, snowmen and creamy liqueurs" (STEPHEN FRY)

"Will do for Father Christmas what Christopher Nolan did for Batman"

"Every bit as funny and poignant as a mouse that has never seen cheese but still believes in it!" (FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE)

"A glorious mix of fairytale, folklore and fun" (FRANCESCA SIMON)

"It will delight adults and children alike and has future classic written all over it"

"The funny (and heartbreaking) history of Ho, ho, ho! My children loved it too" (YANN MARTEL)

"

Terrific . . . An instant classic

"

This deserves a movie adaptation.

Of all the origin stories for this mythical figure that exist in movie form, none that I know of comes even close to this. This is original and creative, yet also believable. The characters and events are all down to earth and flow seemlessly but the story does not lack magic. It's just been blended in so well. If Father Christmas was real, this is how he likely would have become the magical figure we know. The relative realism made this such an enjoyable listen, as did the likeable, reasonably complex characters. The narrator is spot-on too. Great job he did.

I only wish he had googled how to pronounce the Finnish names--especially the town names. It got a bit distracting to one who knows how, and the correct pronounciation would be easy enough for those whose first language is english. I also think that in the wring the toilet humour was unnecessary and didn't really fit in, but fortunately there was only four points where that happened. But these flaws are not big enough to lose them stars.

Anyway, great job from the narrator and a heart-felt, creative story from the author. Matt Haig seems to be at his strongest as a children's author and able to make his stories engaging for adults too. I would listen to this again around Christmas.

A new holiday tradition

I adore this book. This is the fourth time I've read it; it's become a new holiday tradition. Stephen Fry is one of my favourite narrators, and he does a marvellous job with A Boy Called Christmas.