Claude’s Christmas Adventure
By: Sophie Pembroke / Narrated By: Jot Davies, Penelope Rawlins
Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
Big heart, big tummy, stubby little legs!
Claude doesn’t realize what the words: ferry, France, chateau, will mean to him until he escapes from his carrier, leaving him all alone even as his family drives off seeking those very words. And so begins Claude’s Christmas Adventure, a sweet little Christmas romp that has Claude, the stubby little French bulldog, meeting the neighbors of Maple Drive, all in search of his family.
Even when his family discovers that he’s missing from his carrier and starts a social media campaign (“Find Claude!”), Claude journeys with Jack the postman, a man who just left 10 years in the army, who’s been looking but not finding a place that feels like home. They stumble onto Holly (correction: Claude flops through her cat flap in search of grub), a young recently jilted woman who is very much into Christmas but thinks it’s not to be found on Maple Drive, Kathleen, an old woman who thinks her best days are behind her, and Mrs. Templeton, the grouchy old woman who’s the HOA watchman for the neighborhood but who is perhaps longing for community as much as any of them are.
Claude makes a break for it several times, thinking his family abandoned him and may not be back, thinking that Jack and Holly may have to turn him in to the Pound, thinking he’s despised by one and all, and that definitely includes Perdita the cat.
Jot Davies is PERFECT as Claude, the little dog with mighty emotions and a passion for gingerbread, and I like Penelope Rawlins no matter what, even if she does go overboard with the ferryman’s French accent (pun not intended). This is a real treat of a listen, fantastic for getting into the mood for the holidays as it’s very crafty, very sweet, filled with the love of a family trying to reconnect with each other even as they try to reconnect to their little dog, and filled with a budding romance. It’s about being home for the holidays, wherever that home is once you choose to set down roots.
Grab some gingerbread (you’ll really be craving some, starting 1/4 into the book), grab some mulled wine, and listen as Jot Davies brings the angst-ridden and every hungry Claude to life. What a charming Christmas audiobook!
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