Christmas with the Queen (Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb)

The publisher’s introduction
December 1952
As a young Queen Elizabeth II prepares to deliver her first Christmas speech, staff work behind the scenes to get ready for the festivities at Sandringham Estate. Among them are Jack and Olive – old friends who are surprised to be reunited after seven years apart.
While Olive works for the BBC reporting on the royal family, and Jack is employed in the queen’s kitchens, their bond deepens – until a secret threatens to tear them apart. When the truth comes to light, it could change Olive and Jack’s lives forever.
But maybe Christmas has one last gift to deliver…

My review
Christmas in the UK is not complete without listening to the royal speech. This story starts with this particular time in the new Queen Elizabeth’s life in 1952, her first Christmas speech and goes until her 1957 Christmas speech, the first to be televised. The topic of the queen and her family and their activities and life is addressed with respect, discretion and the writing conveys the elegance and dedication of the queen. The story of second chances between Olive and Jack develops slowly over these four years, reminding us also of how things were before the real time communication craze we live in now. It is a little bit like being in a time capsule. And the Christmas atmosphere is lovely. The recipes are mouth watering, and if I have one bémol about the book, it is that they are not in it, so it all stays in our imagination.
It was a very enjoyable read for a little bit of British Christmas atmosphere.

ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins