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《正常就好，何必快樂？》、《柳橙不是唯一的水果》作者溫特森（Jeanette Winterson）結合小說、食譜、回憶散文的冬日歲末獻禮！

溫特森每年聖誕節期間都會寫一個故事，此習慣已行之有年，這些過去未發表過的故事充滿美妙的想像力，時而黑暗，時而詼諧，時而哀傷，如今集結成《聖誕十二日》（Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days），喜愛溫特森的讀者肯定能立刻辨識出她招牌的慧黠犀利與幽默。

書名裡的「十二日」來自教徒從聖誕節（12/25）到三賢士來朝日（1/5）的十二天裡，每天贈送禮物的傳統。溫特森在每篇聖誕節或冬季主題的故事之後，都穿插一道食譜，像是「溫特森媽媽的百果餡派」、「露絲藍黛兒的醃紫高麗菜」、「莎士比亞書店的中式餃子」，成就十二篇故事，十二道聖誕菜餚的豐富搭配。序言裡對聖誕節歷史的介紹以及食譜描述中，自然摻入了溫特森的個人故事，述說她對聖誕節獨特的情感，她與親友、喜愛的作家的動人回憶與過節儀式。

故事本身當然是最大看點，超自然、詭異、魔幻元素、十九世紀背景，溫特森信手拈來，文字詩意流暢，以生動意象將現實與虛構巧妙揉合，融合安潔拉卡特、愛倫坡、狄更斯之風。〈聖誕精神〉（Spirit of Christmas）描述一個困在世界最大百貨公司「買買寶貝」裡的孩子，幫助一對夫妻擺脫物質慾望。〈紐約的聖誕節〉裡，主人翁極度的厭人厭世被魔法治癒，他將發掘魔法背後的秘密。鬼魂、怪聲、瘋子、菜刀在〈黑暗聖誕節〉（Dark Christmas）輪番上陣，加上恐怖的結局轉折，真的很黑暗。〈雪女〉（The Snowmama）翻寫活雪人的傳說，不時暗埋惡搞雙關，注入較調皮歡樂的氣氛。〈銀蛙〉（The Silver Frog）則安排一大群魔法銀蛙對付苛薄的孤兒院院長，遙向狄更斯的〈孤雛淚〉與達爾的〈瑪蒂達〉致敬。

《聖誕十二日》是贈致親友的絕佳選擇，適合一同閱讀或獨自在夜色壟罩下，窩在棉被裡，配一杯熱茶，進入故事的無垠世界。

Jeanette Winterson OBE was born in Manchester. Adopted by Pentecostal parents she was raised to be a missionary. This did and didn’t work out.

Discovering early the power of books she left home at 16 to live in a Mini and get on with her education. After graduating from Oxford University she worked for a while in the theatre and published her first novel at 25. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is based on her own upbringing but using herself as a fictional character. She scripted the novel into a BAFTA-winning BBC drama. 27 years later she re-visited that material in the bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? She has written 10 novels for adults, as well as children’s books, non-fiction and screenplays. She writes regularly for the Guardian. She lives in the Cotswolds in a wood and in Spitalfields, London.

She believes that art is for everyone and it is her mission to prove it.

"Packed with charm and beautifully illustrated, it's a book that will solve your gift dilemmas and let you escape the less salubrious aspects of Christmas for a literary wonderland." (Stylist)

"Winterson’s winter tales unfailingly succeed in their endeavour to leave you aglow." (Guardian)

"Winterson's prose is often witty and sometimes lyrical . . . The recipes seem doable and appetizing and come with intriguing glimpses of the writer, her friends, and their Christmas rituals. Spooky, inventive, funny . . . Winterson's mixed bag of fictional treats has a 19th-century charm much needed in the grim 21st." (Kirkus *Starred Review*)

"A pretty cloth-bound book containing an enchanting collection of recipes and short stories… Stories are suitably festive with icicles and plenty of mistletoe." (Laura Powell Sunday Telegraph, Book of the Year)

"Christmas Days is a cracker: always sharp, often funny and moving, it gets to the heart of Christmas’s spiritual role in our often unreligious lives, and its account of Winterson’s personal healing is never less than heartwarming." (Sunday Times)