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The Little Library Christmas
The perfect Christmas gift for cooks and bibliophiles alike.
The Little Library Christmas is a collection of 50 festive recipes from Kate Young, the Little Library cook. From edible gifts and cocktail party catering, to the big day itself and ideas for your leftovers, this book will guide you through the Christmas period with meals, treats, tipples and – of course – plenty of reading recommendations.
Beautifully photographed throughout and in a gorgeous, giftable, format, this is the perfect book to put under your tree this Christmas.
320 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2020
12 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Kate Young
8 books95 followersKate Young is a writer and cook. Her award-winning Little Library Cookbooks (The Little Library Cookbook, The Little Library Year, The Little Library Christmas, and The Little Library Parties) feature food inspired by beloved works of literature.
Her debut novel Experienced, a queer romcom set in Bristol, was released in summer 2024.
After a sunny Australian childhood, spent indoors reading books, she moved to London, which suited her much better. She now lives in the English countryside.
Her debut novel Experienced, a queer romcom set in Bristol, was released in summer 2024.
After a sunny Australian childhood, spent indoors reading books, she moved to London, which suited her much better. She now lives in the English countryside.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 31, 2021
A lovely little book of Christmas literary snippets, stories of Christmas in the authors native Australia and in England and favourite seasonal recipes. Yes, I know its July.....
January 1, 2023
A cookbook that offered more than just recipes. It invited me into preparations for the festive season and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Many might have a little black book hidden away but this little red book is bound to be part of my Christmas traditions from now on.
December 3, 2025
An adorable read about Christmas traditions, Christmas memories, excerpts from books about Christmas scenes, Christmas longings and plenty of recipes to go along with it all. I’m thinking this will be a yearly holiday read for me…..🎄🎄🎄
2024
My first Christmas Read of the season and it was as wonderful the second time around as the first. This time I made a list in my ‘Reading Journal’ of all the recipes I want to try from it.
This now will be an annual Christmas Read!🤶🏻🎄🧑🎄🌲
2025
My daughter and I made each other a ‘Book Advent’ this year, starting a new Christmas tradition. The first book in my advent to her was The Little Library Christmas, seeing I have so enjoyed it over the last few years. She was delighted.🎄📕🎄
2024
My first Christmas Read of the season and it was as wonderful the second time around as the first. This time I made a list in my ‘Reading Journal’ of all the recipes I want to try from it.
This now will be an annual Christmas Read!🤶🏻🎄🧑🎄🌲
2025
My daughter and I made each other a ‘Book Advent’ this year, starting a new Christmas tradition. The first book in my advent to her was The Little Library Christmas, seeing I have so enjoyed it over the last few years. She was delighted.🎄📕🎄
November 19, 2020
Yes, yes, I know it’s the middle of November. But it’s never too early to begin planning your festive season (especially this year when everything feels so doom and gloom, I think we need extra festivity!). This charming cookbook by Kate Young really is the perfect blend of literature, foodiness and beautiful photography.
This cookbook contains 50 beautiful recipes, some simple and some extravagant, inspired by Young’s favourite Christmas stories. Whether that be the Turkish delight Edmund eats in Narnia, the bonbons eaten by the March sisters in Little Women, Mrs Cratchit’s gravy or Paddington Bear’s Christmas pudding, there’s something for everyone.
Each recipe is accompanied by a Christmassy passage from the corresponding book, and the book is scattered with anecdotes from Young’s own Christmases - as well as mouth-watering photos of the food she describes.
This is more than just a cook book, it’s something you can curl up with for inspiration and nostalgia and it gives you all of the Christmas tingles. I for one highly recommend it!
This cookbook contains 50 beautiful recipes, some simple and some extravagant, inspired by Young’s favourite Christmas stories. Whether that be the Turkish delight Edmund eats in Narnia, the bonbons eaten by the March sisters in Little Women, Mrs Cratchit’s gravy or Paddington Bear’s Christmas pudding, there’s something for everyone.
Each recipe is accompanied by a Christmassy passage from the corresponding book, and the book is scattered with anecdotes from Young’s own Christmases - as well as mouth-watering photos of the food she describes.
This is more than just a cook book, it’s something you can curl up with for inspiration and nostalgia and it gives you all of the Christmas tingles. I for one highly recommend it!
January 11, 2022
I just found out that Kate Young is a celebrity stylist. I thought she was a chef as she has two cookbooks. I haven't obtained The Little Library Cookbook but after reading this one, it's on my list. I loved the coziness of this cookbook. I tagged a bunch of recipes to try, including some gifting ideas for next Christmas. I read this cookbook cover-to-cover, I like to do this the first go-round and then go back to the recipes I'm interested in trying.
January 5, 2021
Lovely seasonal cheer from an unashamed Christmas-ophile.
October 13, 2024
This book was a lovely surprise - primarily a recipe book for the festive season, it is so much more than that and it is those "extra" insights into traditions, music, literature and childhood memories that made it so enjoyable for me.
As a New Zealander, I thoroughly identified with the Australian Christmas' described. As our nearest neighbour we share the summer southern hemisphere's December /Jan. Growing up as a child on the East Coast of the North Island, my childhood memories are also of sunny and hot Christmas days with extended family enjoying drinks outside under the trees; Christmas lunches at a formal table with doors wide open to the outside and the Christmas ham, salads and pavalova as our main staples.
Inspite of the season, we still continued traditions from the Northern Hemisphere - sang songs of snow, chestnuts roasting on open fires, sleigh rides; decorated with wintery themes, pulled Christmas crackers and ate hot Christmas puddings, turkey with all the trimmings etc.
I took great delight in Kate's full embracing of the wintery English Christmas, for it has been a childhood dream of mine also - that yearning for a Christmas that I read about in my childhood books, with snow, cosy fires, a walk to midnight service in a country church etc. I still hope to experience one.
As a New Zealander, I thoroughly identified with the Australian Christmas' described. As our nearest neighbour we share the summer southern hemisphere's December /Jan. Growing up as a child on the East Coast of the North Island, my childhood memories are also of sunny and hot Christmas days with extended family enjoying drinks outside under the trees; Christmas lunches at a formal table with doors wide open to the outside and the Christmas ham, salads and pavalova as our main staples.
Inspite of the season, we still continued traditions from the Northern Hemisphere - sang songs of snow, chestnuts roasting on open fires, sleigh rides; decorated with wintery themes, pulled Christmas crackers and ate hot Christmas puddings, turkey with all the trimmings etc.
I took great delight in Kate's full embracing of the wintery English Christmas, for it has been a childhood dream of mine also - that yearning for a Christmas that I read about in my childhood books, with snow, cosy fires, a walk to midnight service in a country church etc. I still hope to experience one.
November 18, 2020
The Little Library Christmas is a stunning collection of recipes, food writing, and quotes of edible delights and seasonal jollies from the very best of literature. It would make a beautiful Christmas gift for any book or food lover.
From the simple yet effective textured red cover, we are guided through sections such as Brown Paper Packages in which we are given ideas for delicious food and drink present ideas, and A Bird in the Oven which caters for Christmas Day from breakfast right until that moment when you think you can't stuff another morsel in your mouth (but you manage it anyway).
I love food writing and Kate Young writes so evocatively about that and about her own Christmas experiences, and combined with scene-setting, vibrant and festive photographs it really is such an immersive experience.
I defy anyone to get to the end of The Little Library Christmas and not have to wipe away a trickle of drool. The recipes themselves sound mouth-wateringly good and whilst there are some that don't appeal to me personally (as with any recipe book) there are just as many that do. This book is a delight to own, it's tasteful (in more ways than one), classy, incredibly readable and utterly charming. I found it the perfect combination of books and food.
From the simple yet effective textured red cover, we are guided through sections such as Brown Paper Packages in which we are given ideas for delicious food and drink present ideas, and A Bird in the Oven which caters for Christmas Day from breakfast right until that moment when you think you can't stuff another morsel in your mouth (but you manage it anyway).
I love food writing and Kate Young writes so evocatively about that and about her own Christmas experiences, and combined with scene-setting, vibrant and festive photographs it really is such an immersive experience.
I defy anyone to get to the end of The Little Library Christmas and not have to wipe away a trickle of drool. The recipes themselves sound mouth-wateringly good and whilst there are some that don't appeal to me personally (as with any recipe book) there are just as many that do. This book is a delight to own, it's tasteful (in more ways than one), classy, incredibly readable and utterly charming. I found it the perfect combination of books and food.
March 26, 2023
This book was a lovely little tidbit, love letter to Christmas and potential stocking-filler. Its beautifully formatted with amazing photos and interesting interjections from the author. These were the parts I focused on, as I'm not really sure on how to "read" food recipes. Which is probably the largest reason I've only given the book two stars. Another quibble I had, however, was the promise of literary food delights. I picked this book up on the promise of food-recipes from our favourite Christmas stories. While this is part of the book, I wouldn't say it runs strongly throughout.
I felt that this book instead followed Young's attachment and love of Christmas, with the theme of literature weaved in and out. I liked getting to know Young and there are plenty of christmassy quotations, but I guess I just thought there would be more literary recipes. That said, Young's writing captivated me and it was interesting to hear about Australian Christmases compared to the British ones I'm used too.
I've already got another of Young's books lined-up to read. It's another in The Little Library series, and while I'm more than happy to read about Young's passion for food and recipes, I do hope she intends to write a full-length prose piece.
I felt that this book instead followed Young's attachment and love of Christmas, with the theme of literature weaved in and out. I liked getting to know Young and there are plenty of christmassy quotations, but I guess I just thought there would be more literary recipes. That said, Young's writing captivated me and it was interesting to hear about Australian Christmases compared to the British ones I'm used too.
I've already got another of Young's books lined-up to read. It's another in The Little Library series, and while I'm more than happy to read about Young's passion for food and recipes, I do hope she intends to write a full-length prose piece.
October 21, 2020
I love Kate Young's books. I read them like novels, but they have the added joy of recommending other things to read along the way, and the added, added joy of showing you how to cook delicious things to eat. It shows how much I love Kate and her writing that I bought this book at all, because Christmas is not my jam. We do celebrate in our house, but what we choose to eat is often far removed from what is considered traditional or typical Christmas fare. There are probably only a handful of recipes in here that I would actually use, but having said that, it's a great read and the recipes I want to make look amazing and I know, from having made things from Kate's previous books that the recipes are going to be easy to follow and look and taste great.
November 9, 2020
Gorgeous recipes in between lovely essays and beautiful photographs. I really like how so many of the recipes can be interlinked — use a little of X in Y or serve these two things together. It feels not only coherent but fancy-easy. Like you could make all these lovely things for yourself and your people, and you’d have a wonderful time doing it. I’m hooked, and plotting where to start already. Perfect paperback size makes this readable in the bath, not just at the kitchen counter. Excellent gift idea for foodies and book lovers.
November 27, 2020
This pocket sized cookbook is an absolute delight and worth every single penny of its £15.
Of all the years to come out as well, having this beautiful little red spark of Christmas joy is making the festive season feel much more hopeful. I have been reading this over the past few weeks, soaking in all the Christmas tales and scrumptious recipes, bookmarking the ones I want to make over the next month. I'm starting with the gin and thyme martini and hope to make many more things soon. I couldn't love this more.
Of all the years to come out as well, having this beautiful little red spark of Christmas joy is making the festive season feel much more hopeful. I have been reading this over the past few weeks, soaking in all the Christmas tales and scrumptious recipes, bookmarking the ones I want to make over the next month. I'm starting with the gin and thyme martini and hope to make many more things soon. I couldn't love this more.
December 22, 2021
A beautiful book, full of wonderful recipes, evocative memories and highlights from childhood favourite books! I loved this even though im not the biggest fan of Christmas, it would make a lovely gift.
December 14, 2023
The Little Library Christmas by Kate Young is a super lovely little book containing 50 festive recipes but also with her thoughts and observations on Christmas. Not a thick book, but one I really enjoyed reading.
November 5, 2020
Yet another wonderfully cosy, perfectly narrated book by Kate Young. With amazing recipes to try and enjoy in the next few weekes, to bring some joy and comfort to the soul in these bleak times.
December 22, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
January 11, 2021
Really 4.5 but unfortunately we can’t give that rating. Great book I was given it as a gift but I’ll be looking for the other titles.
December 29, 2020
Lovely recipes and delightful intros to each section or recipe, a lovely read, even if you're not actually baking from it!
January 16, 2021
Would make a great present, and nice mix of recipes, ideas and memories
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews