A Snow Garden and Other Stories

<p><strong>As read on Radio 4, seven linked stories set in the Christmas holidays - all as funny, joyous, poignant and memorable as Christmas should be</strong>:<br /><br /><strong>A Faraway Smell of Lemon</strong>: The School Term has ended. It is almost Christmas but Binny, out last-minute shopping couldn't feel less like wishing glad tidings to all men. Ducking out of the rain she finds herself in the sort of shop she would never normally visit.<br /><br /><strong>The Marriage Manual</strong>: Christmas Eve. Two parents endeavour to construct their son's Christmas present from a DIY kit and in the process find themselves deconstructing their marriage.<br /><br /><strong>Christmas at the Airport</strong>: A glitch in the system, travellers stranded and all sorts of lives colliding in the face of a sudden birth...<br /><br /><strong>The Boxing Day Ball</strong>: Maureen has never been out with the local girls before. Who knew that a disco in the Village Hall could be life-changing?<br /><br /><strong>A Snow Garden</strong>: Two little boys, dumped with their divorced father for his share of the Christmas holidays and none of them with a clue how to enjoy it. <br /><br /><strong>I'll Be Home for Christmas</strong> The most famous boy in the world comes home hoping to escape the madness with a normal family Christmas.<br /><br /><strong>Trees</strong>: As if Christmas wasn't wearing enough, now his elderly parent is asking for a hole in the ground - Father and son break old habits and plant a tree to mark the start of the new year.</p>