Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop

Your most delightful holiday read: the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Christmas Bookshop, from beloved Scottish author Jenny Colgan.

Christmas comes early—far too early—to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows?

Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on, but the money the studio is paying is too good to pass up. She uses the little windfall from filming to create new displays and fend off a buyout offer from an obnoxious millionaire who wants to turn McCredie’s into a souvenir shop selling kilts made in China and plastic Nessies. Still reeling slightly from a breakup, Carmen’s not particularly looking forward to the holidays. But just as snow begins to fall and the lights of Christmas blink on, all sorts of lovely new possibilities present themselves, for McCredie’s bookstore, and for Carmen herself.

“Glorious.”

Sophie Kinsella

Review by 1000 Libraries

Jenny Colgan’s Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is a snow-dusted hug of a novel. Returning to Edinburgh’s cobbled streets and the now-iconic McCredie’s Bookshop, Colgan delivers a sequel that feels like slipping into a favorite wool jumper: familiar, comforting, and quietly joyful.

Carmen, our prickly-but-lovable bookseller, is back, juggling family chaos, a shop teetering on financial ruin, and the lingering ache of almost-romance. Colgan weaves these threads with her signature lightness and lets the frosty, festive, and faintly magical city become a character as well. While the romance sure is swoony, the real love story is between the characters and the shop itself. Colgan’s reverence for books as talismans, escape hatches, and glue for broken people shines in every scene set among the dusty shelves.

“It’s a bookshop. It’s where people come to step into other lives, other places, for a while.”

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is perfect for readers who want their holiday fiction with extra cinnamon, zero cynicism, and a side of literary nerdery. Curl up with cocoa, a blanket, and zero guilt for—this is Christmas comfort reading at its coziest.

“Jenny Colgan always hits all the feels between generous servings of well-honed humor and acute observations. This one was as insightfully written as it was cleverly amusing.”

“Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop is another fantastic read from Jenny Colgan. It’s warm (unlike Mr McCredie’s bookshop!), it’s funny, it’s full of festive cheer and is such a heart-warming read.”

“This was such a lovely and warming Christmas read that really gets you in the mood for Christmas. It is set in a bookshop and you can just feel the magic come alive as Carmen brings the bookshop alive.”

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