The Christmas Lights by Karen Swan

 

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pan; Main Market edition (1 Nov. 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1509838082
• ISBN-13: 978-1509838080

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

December 2018, and free-spirited influencers Bo Loxley and her partner Zac are living a life of wanderlust, travelling the globe and sharing their adventures with their millions of fans. Booked to spend Christmas in the Norwegian fjords, they set up home in a remote farm owned by enigmatic mountain guide Anders and his fierce grandmother Signy. Surrounded by snowy peaks and frozen falls, everything should be perfect. But the camera can lie and with every new post, the ‘perfect’ life Zac and Bo are portraying is diverging from the truth. Something Bo can’t explain is wrong at the very heart of their lives and Anders is the only person who’ll listen.

June 1936, and fourteen-year old Signy is sent with her sister and village friends to the summer pastures to work as milkmaids, protecting the herd that will sustain the farm through the long, winter months. But miles from home and away from the safety of their families, threat begins to lurk in friendly faces . . .

The mountains keep secrets – Signy knows this better than anyone – and as Bo’s life begins to spiral she is forced, like the old woman before her, to question who is friend and who is foe.

 

Review

As the festive season approaches and Christmas books flood the shelves the one book I always look forward to is by one of my favourite authors, Karen Swan.  Her books are always topical, capture the culture we live in and of course have a sprinkling of snow and romance.  The Christmas Lights has all those qualities plus much more.  Anyone with teenagers and children in their twenties will be familiar with Instagram and how influential it can be, the strive for the perfect life and perfect photo, and it is this that forms the basis for this book.  Bo and Zac travel around the world, going to extreme places, capturing the perfect image and sharing their lives with their nine million followers.  But, what happens when cracks begin to appear, the lines between the life you share and your personal life become blurred and the ‘brand’ becomes more important than your relationship; what is the reality behind the perfection?

Karen Swan seems to have a love of mountain settings, we have had the Canadian Rockies and the Swiss Alps, and in The Christmas Lights we are taken to the beautiful Norweigan Ffjords and the rugged mountains that surround them.  This is a vast, untamed landscape, that is only accessible by helicopter or boat, a beautiful but desolate place with no luxuries; it really is back to basics for Bo and Zac.  The chapters are written in the third person narrative, and are old from Bo’s point of view in the present and in 1936 from Signy, and follows her over a summer that will change her, and her friends lives, forever.

The Christmas Lights is a multi faceted read about, love, loss, secrets, lies and being given a second chance.  Signy is a wonderful character, fiercely independent, living alone on the mountain with no gas, electricity or hot water.  Her only contact is with her grandson, Anders who checks on her daily and takes her shopping, via helicopter.  She has a strength of character that shows through, both from when she was young to the present day, as well as a sense of humour.  In Bo, I think she sees a kindred spirit but one who doesn’t know her strength yet.  Anders has an air of mystery about him, he is the strong and silent type and is the only person Bo feels she can be herself with, and the complete opposite to Zac.  Signy and Anders are the catalyst in Bo’s life, to make her see her true self and to stop running from the past and face the future.

As with Karen Swan’s previous Christmas books, I absolutely loved The Christmas Lights, unlike some other Christmas reads her books aren’t all fluffy and sweet, they have a substance about them and always deal with current trends and have a an undercurrent of something darker in the plot.  The setting is stunning, and the vast plains of snow and the contrasting water of the ffjords are brought to life and we are reminded that whilst beautiful, they also can be dangerous.  I did like the metaphor of the Akerne’s Mountain’s deep crevasse being like Bo and Zac’s relationship, waiting to break away and the damage it will cause to those caught in its wake.  The characters are wonderful, and such an eclectic mix, coming from two very different worlds, and I have to say I much preferred Signy’s quiet and simple life.   The Christmas Lights is the perfect Christmas read, a setting in the snow, the importance of friends and family, love, destiny, and a few surprises along the way. The festive season can now commence!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on The Christmas Lights. Karen Swan has been a favourite of mine for quite a few years and I have reviewed many of her other books, including her Christmas titles , Christmas on Primrose Hill,  Christmas Under The Stars, The Christmas Secret all of which I highly recommend, so please take a peek at those reviews as well.