Carol Ann Duffy

Présentation de l’éditeur
It is Christmas Eve, 1799, and Dorothy Wordsworth is awake in the dead of night. She stands outside in the winter cold, waiting patiently.
When the new day breaks it will bring family and friends to Dorothy's door. For tomorrow is a double joy: tomorrow is her Christmas Birthday.

Carol Ann Duffy's wonderful poem Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday takes us to the frozen landscape of the Lake District, where a merry celebration is about to begin in the Wordsworths' cottage.
Gorgeously illustrated by Tom Duxbury, this festive poem evokes the snowy Lake District as Dorothy celebrates her birthday with her brother William Wordsworth and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

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It is a snowy London day in The Great Winter of 1683.
We follow our bold narrator as she explores ‘the town on the Thames’, a thousand tents and dancing fires lit on the frozen water with jubilant residents and lively festive revelry. All is a fete upon the ice as she sees jugglers, dancing bears, palm readers and even a merry wedding.
Her journey leads her to meet many new companions with whom to spend a starry night upon the river, where they sleep with no inkling of who will be looking down on them in the morning light . . .

Carol Ann Duffy's Christmas poem, Frost Fair is inspired by the fairs held on the River Thames in London as it froze over in the uncommonly cold winters of the Little Ice Age.
This delightful, moving poem captures the inventiveness of a great city and the drama of winter.
Beautifully illustrated by David De Las Heras, Frost Fair is an irresistible read for our festive season.

Présentation de l’éditeur
Mrs Scrooge is a delightful Christmas poem from Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.
Published as a small hardback and filled with bright illustrations by Posy Simmonds, this modern take on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens makes a perfect Christmas gift.
With her husband, Ebenezer, now 'doornail dead', the coldest Christmas Eve on record finds Mrs Scrooge outside the supermarket, protesting against consumerism and waste. 'Spoilsport!' shout the passersby as they load up their shopping carts with Christmas goodies. Just as Ebenezer did, Mrs Scrooge keeps to her frugal ways . . . but with the current state of the world, perhaps Mrs Scrooge has the right idea. That night, alone in her bed with Catchit the cat beside her, Mrs Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As each in succession takes her by the hand and sweeps through the scenes of her life, Mrs Scrooge learns not only what the 'Christmas Spirit' really means, but the nature of the real gifts we give and receive.

Présentation de l’éditeur
In this enchantingly illustrated Christmas poem, Carol Ann Duffy invites readers to open the windows on Advent Street. In each one is a gift.
You may find yourself back-straight watching a ballerina, poised to begin, or catch your lips moving in time with a festive song that drifts out into the night. Whatever the surprise, when the curtains draw back and the lights sharpen, Duffy’s beguiling words, paired with captivating illustrations from Yelena Bryksenkova, call you inside to feel the warmth.

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It is a cold day in Ireland, the 26th of December; frost lies thick on the blackthorn. A man walks the just-waking village, banging on every door, summoning the boys. Today is St. Stephen's Day, when legend has it that the Saint was betrayed by a wren's call, and the boys are off to the forest where they hope to find the traitorous bird and capture it by nightfall. But what will they do if their prey escapes them?

Inspired by the many myths of the wren and the Irish tradition of hunting it, Carol Ann Duffy's beautiful new Christmas poem takes us on a chase through a snowy, rural landscape and ends with a merry celebration. With gorgeous full-colour illustrations by Dermot Flynn throughout, The Wren-Boys will make a perfect stocking-filler this festive season.

Présentation de l’éditeur
On a frosty winter evening, the Baron watches the snow fall. He is bored and worried. It will soon be Christmas and everything is too quiet. What can he do to bring excitement to the Manor? His wife, the Baroness, has an idea: he can appoint a King of Christmas, a peasant to take his place. And so begin 12 days of chaos, anarchy and merriment.
Inspired by the medieval tradition of appointing a Lord of Misrule, Carol Ann Duffy's warm and enchanting new Christmas poem takes us into a topsy-turvy world of festivity and celebration, where rules no longer apply. With beautiful full-color illustrations throughout, The King of Christmas is the perfect gift this festive season.

Présentation de l’éditeur
'A sweet winter light blushed
as Pablo Picasso walked his dog
under the cypress trees
and the bell of the old chapel guessed at the hour.
It was Christmas Eve.'

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's new Christmas poem, Pablo Picasso's Noel follows the famous painter as he moves through a small town in the south of France on Christmas Eve, drawing the residents and the festive scenes he encounters. Accompanied by his small dog, he brings delight as he sketches wherever he goes. A wonderful, moving new poem capturing both the magic of Christmas and artistic inspiration.

Beautifully illustrated and produced in a gorgeous small format, this is an irresistible festive gift and Christmas stocking must-have for all book lovers.

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Down at the front, on a cold winter's night in 1914, amidst the worst war the world had ever seen, an inexplicable silence spread from man to man. Belief was in the air. Then the soldiers ceased fire and the magic of Christmas took hold . . .

Carol Ann Duffy's brilliant poem celebrates the miraculous truce between the trenches, when enemy shook hands with enemy, shared songs, swapped gifts, even played football, and peace found a place in No Man's Land.

In a gorgeous small format with David Roberts' beautiful illustrations, The Christmas Truce is an irresistible festive gift.

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Another Night Before Christmas is Carol Ann Duffy's magical contemporary reworking of the famous poem by Clement C. Moore. Beautifully presented, this wonderful festive poem, illustrated with Rob Ryan's paper cut artwork, is the perfect Christmas gift.

On the night before Christmas,
A child in a house,
As the whole family slept,
Behaved just like a mouse . . .

It's the night before Christmas and a young girl creeps down the stairs, determined to find out for certain whether Santa is real . . . But try as she might, she can't keep awake and is soon fast asleep.

She doesn't stir, even when Santa and his reindeer land on her roof-top - but then, when he bursts out of her fireplace, she wakes to a room filled with magic. As she watches him fly off into the night, she knows that she will never forget this sight because, at Christmas, the best gift of all is belief.

Présentation de l’éditeur
A horse walks into a bar. A hedgehog plays the piano. An owl mulls a flagon of wine. On Christmas Eve at the Moon Under Water, anything is possible, so when the landlord announces a festive prize for the best performance of the night, all and sundry pile into the pub, eager for a chance at victory.

In Christmas Eve at the Moon Under Water all the old rivalries of the natural world are suspended for one miraculous night, as man stands shoulder to shoulder with animal, and predator and prey add warble and wail to the Yuletide chorus.
The enchanting new festive poem from Carol Ann Duffy, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and adorned with sumptuous illustrations, Christmas Eve at the Moon Under Water is the perfect festive gift for the poetry lover in your life.