A French Christmas: Festive tales for a Joyeux Noël

by Vintage (Editor), Paul Arène, Jean-Philippe Blondel

Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas! These festive stories welcome Christmas à la française – delicious, chic and unexpected.

Sparkling Parisian streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, oysters, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little this collection of stories proves that the French have truly mastered Christmas.

Bringing together the best French Christmas stories of all time, this lovely book includes classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth-century author Irène Némirovsky and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel.

Let these generous, joyous stories transport you and your loved ones into the heart of a very French Christmas.

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories

200 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2024

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if the French enjoy Christmas after reading this book of short stories, they all seem a bit depressed!

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Festive tales” is a misleading description on the book’s cover. The tales were either miserable or dreary and depressing, with little in the way of seasonal joy.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐


This book collects together a selection of French Christmas stories, from the classic to the modern.

I have a lot of mixed feelings with this one. I loved two of the stories: The Gift - a modern story - and I Take Supper With My Wife - an older story. Both of these were fun, festive and full of joy. They had happy endings and definitely captured the magic of family and friends at Christmas.
The rest of the stories felt... Less festive. I was struck by how sad they were, covering themes of loss and grief and loneliness with no resolution.
The stories were well written, and certainly carried important messages. They were just not what I was expecting, not what I wanted from a Christmas book

[Eleanor Yates · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed in this collection. There are 14 tales and I’d say that only about 4 of them are uplifting or heartwarming. The rest are miserable and depressing, not in keeping with the Christmas spirit at all.

Maybe this is simply a trademark of French story writers, often praised for gritty realism as in Les Misérables, for example. Possibly the mix of stories doesn’t quite work for a modern audience due to a large proportion of them being written in the early 1800s, when morality tales were very popular.

Overall, it was novel to see a different spin on Christmas tales, but I wish they hadn’t all been so sad!

[Rachel Axton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic little collection of short stories written by French authors, predominantly in the 1800s, but there are a couple of modern ones as well. It is a great opportunity to experience different authors I previously had not heard of and also to hear about Christmas traditions in France.

I think I will keep an eye out for the others in the series (Italian, German, Scandinavian etc)

For more reviews on the actual stories: https://yarrabookclub.wordpress.com/2...

[Lydia Semyanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what you’d expect from a collection of Christmas-related short stories.

Although maybe the most interesting part of the book was the description of featured authors at the end (my favourite — Alphonse Daudet, “founder of the National Anti-Semitic League of France” who “wrote extensively about his experience living with syphilis”. Who else to write about kindness and the joy of giving?)

[Lucie]

My previous thoughts still stand!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but a little disjointed!

[Lelly]

DNF. Not at all "festive"!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting seasonal mix from a varied range of french authors - the stories, from the humorous to sad span a couple of hundred years and several writing styles.

[Aleksandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Left it halfway. A beautiful cover, atrocious stories. Abandoned suicidal school boys, immoral elderly cheaters, gloom, dread, pettiness, and disdain. A Christmas with a French twist? Second half next year, hope it gets better.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

There wasn't a whole lot of joyeux Noel to be had here, that's for sure.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy, didn't get half of it. But yeah it gives vintage vibes i guess ✌️

[Blasr · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover is totally misleading and it is definitely not a Joyeux Noël!! Not good. I kept hoping I’d find a story that would redeem the whole book. I didn't.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather sad collection of stories, many from the late 1890s.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only liked 2 of these short stories. Don’t plan on reading this one again but I would like to find the German version of this book.

[Ifigenia.T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some stories were better than others