IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
The biggest luxury of Christmas? For us, it has to be taking time to slow down, switch off and read a book by the fire – with your favourite chocolates within reaching distance, of course. Edel Coffey selects books for Christmas and pairs them with the best of Butlers Chocolates …
MAEVE BRENNAN – CHRISTMAS EVE
The late Irish writer Maeve Brennan was famous for her columns in The New Yorker but she also wrote exquisite short stories. ‘Christmas Eve’ is one of the many that Brennan wrote about the fictional Bagot family and this one focuses on Delis and her two daughters as they prepare for Christmas Eve. It’s almost sacred in its quiet accomplishment and can be found in Brennan’s wonderful collection, The Springs Of Affection. You can also listen to Roddy Doyle – whose mother was a cousin of Brennan’s – reading it on the New Yorker books podcast.
This story demands something bitter-sweet like a Dark Chocolate Mint Crunch bar from the Butlers’ Chocolate Library (€18).
JAMES JOYCE – THE DEAD
The Dead is the longest short story in Joyce’s 1914 collection, Dubliners, and to read this story is to feel all of the silent sadness of the characters (and all of humanity) descend as gently as the snow outside Miss Julia’s and Miss Kate’s Christmas party. The story is full of humour and pathos and yet by the end of it, Joyce has summed up the vast unknowable depths of what it is to be human. Barry McGovern reads it splendidly on the Joyce’s Dublin podcast.
I recommend some Butlers Coconut and Almond Tasty Pieces (€4 per bag) for this one, as they feel like something that might have been served at the Misses Morkans’s party.
CLAIRE KEEGAN – SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE
Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These became an instant classic when it was released just before Christmas in 2021. The first time I read it, I went right back to the start to read it again. Set in New Ross in the run up to Christmas in 1985, Bill Furlong is a kind-hearted coal merchant whose life is about to be turned upside down by his encounter with a young woman in a Magdalene Laundry. Keegan addresses so much about Irish people and culture, as well as humanity’s capacity for cruelty.
Something comforting is called for here, like the Butlers Red Milk Chocolate Flake Powder Puff (€12).
ANNE ENRIGHT – THE GREEN ROAD
Anne Enright’s sixth novel The Green Road, a wonderful book in itself, has also become recognised for its brilliant description of the ‘Big Shop’ at Christmas. From the vacuum-packed chestnuts thrown into the trolley with an adventurous flourish to the enormous bill at the checkout and the inevitable realisation that you’ve forgotten the ham/butter/cranberry sauce, this scene is pure perfection.
You’ll feel like you’ve earned Butlers Chocolates Christmas Pudding Motif Milk Chocolate Truffles (€7) after so authentically reliving the Christmas shop!
A WINTER IN NEW YORK – JOSIE SILVER
There are plenty of contemporary Christmas novels to choose from, including Josie Silver’s just-released, A Winter In New York. It tells the story of Iris, who has left England and her ex-boyfriend behind seeking a fresh start in New York. Starting from scratch, she is trying to rebuild her career as a chef but when she stumbles across an ice-cream shop from her mother’s past, the story becomes both a mystery and a romance.
This calls for the unabashed sweetness of Butlers White Hot Chocolate at home (€5 for 10 servings).
All available at Butlers Chocolate Cafés nationwide and www.butlerschocolates.com.
