The Girl Who Saved Christmas

By: Matt Haig / Narrated By: Carey Mulligan

Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins

So charming, such a treat—even better than the first in the series!

What can I tell you? While I did like A Boy Called Christmas a whole heckuva lot, I must say that I truly, truly loved The Girls Who Saved Christmas, author Matt Haig’s second offering in his A Boy Called Christmas series.

I dunno if it’s cuz I’m into mighty Girl Power, but I really liked this one. I think too that the first book was more of an Origins story regarding Christmas and traditions, the reindeer and Santa’s red cap, things of that ilk, while this is about a brave but suffering little girl, the one who made Father Christmas’s first Christmas delivering gifts possible. She’d had so much hope back then, such a belief in Magic and possibilities, that she verily lifted his sleigh into the sky. Now, however, with her mum dead and gone, with getting shunted and cornered into the workhouse, with her beloved cat, Captain Soot, taken from her (And taken in by none other than that great lover of cats, Charles Dickens!), the girl—our heroine Amelia Wishart—has plum run out of hope. Not only that, the cruelty of the world and of men has her angry, and that Father Christmas peddles hope and joy leaves her feeling ticked off at him the very most.

If that’s not bad enough for Father Christmas, this lack of hope in the world oh so necessary to flying his sleigh, there’d been a horrific troll attack at the North Pole that decimated his village/the village of the elves, leaving only the elven newspaper’s office building standing (And we’ll come to understand how this happened later…). Christmas canceled? ImPOSSible (Ssshh, don't say that word: It’s a very, very bad word, it’s swearing to say that amongst Father Christmas and his elves)! So it’s so very necessary that Christmas happens this year, and Father C reeeeeally wants to find Amelia Wishart and her cat so that he might bask in her simple hope and belief, so that he might bring her a wonderful Christmas, so that he can get that dratted sleigh to fly and slow down time for that night.

But things don’t go as planned, and there are guns that are fired by soldiers (At Father C and his reindeer!); there’s a smackdown with Queen Victoria; there are valiant attempts to free Amelia from the workhouse; there are violent skirmishes with TOTally violent trolls; and there’s the discovery of a traitor amongst the elves. The Truth Pixie makes a cameo in this book, and Mika, Nicholas’s mouse friend from waaaay back, has a descendant who makes an appearance as well. Two more things: The rather vain but well-meaning Charles Dickens is in the story, getting tips and advice from Father C, and Father Christmas discovers the lovely spinster Mary, the kitchen maid at the workhouse, and his jolly heart goes pit-a-pat with love and delight. Has he found someone who might offer human companionship for the rest of his days?

Along with this lovely story crafting goes Carey Mulligan’s AWEsome narration. What a treasure she is as she navigates a Victorian London with its Dickensian poverty and suffering, navigates a world of elves and balances it with a world of trolls. She handles all the excitement, and deftly balances it with Amelia’s fatigue and utter sorrow (And when Amelia bites down on Mr. Creeper, the despicable man who runs the workhouse? Why, Mulligan offers a mighty bellow!).

Our little audiobook club is doing this book for Christmas this year, just as we did A Boy Called Christmas last year. And ho ho ho: Matt Haig penned a third in the series, Father Christmas and Me, which I’m soooo looking forward to being our Christmas choice for next year (Hear that Maman, Big Sis? Hint, hint, hint)!

If you’re looking for a Christmas adventure guaranteed to leave you all warm and fuzzy and happy inside, look no further than this book. It’s wonderful, and tho’ I really, really enjoyed some of the other audiobooks, this to me was so very enjoyable that it’s my pick for Holiday Audiobooks this year.

Now if you’ll excuse me; I’ve gotta go find RoRo and see if he’d mind being called Captain Soot until Christmas…!