Perfect Christmas, The

Romance
For Cassie Beaumont, it’s meeting her perfect match. Cassie, at thirty-three, wants a husband and kids, and so far, nothing’s worked. Not blind dates, not the Internet and certainly not leaving love to chance. What’s left? A professional matchmaker.

He’s Simon Dodson, and he’s very choosy about the clients he takes on. Cassie finds Simon a difficult, acerbic know-it-all, and she’s astonished when he accepts her as a client. Claiming he has her perfect mate in mind, Simon assigns her three tasks to complete before she meets him. Three tasks that are all about Christmas: being a charity bell ringer, dressing up as Santa’s elf at a children’s party and preparing a traditional turkey dinner for her neighbors (whom she happens to dislike).

Despite a number of comical mishaps, Cassie does it all—and she’s finally ready to meet her match.

But just like the perfect Christmas gift, he turns out to be a wonderful surprise! What would the holidays be without a Christmas story from Debbie Macomber?
$24.99 (4 hours)

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Angels at Christmas

Romance
 

Every Christmas, three lovable angels visit Earth. Once a year, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy are allowed to intervene (or, more accurately, interfere!) in human affairs.

Despite their frequent misadventures and the chaos they often cause, things always seem to turn out right….

This Christmas, join Those Christmas Angels as they respond to Anne Fletcher’s prayer request. She wants her son, Roy, to meet a special woman—and the angels contrive to throw Julie Wilcott in his path (literally!).

Watch as the heaven-sent messengers reunite a divorced couple, bring peace of mind to an elderly man and grant a little boy’s fondest wish. Because there’s always joy Where Angels Go.

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy offer you laughter and Christmas cheer in these two heartwarming stories!

“The busybody angels…provide a few delightful surprises as lives transform.” —Publishers Weekly

$24.99 (13 hours)

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Child's Christmas, A

Under 10s
 

Delightful, festive stories for children of all ages.

These five classics will keep kids starry-eyed with wonder and enchantment during the holiday season and throughout the year.

Includes: The Night Before Christmas, Santa Claus’ Sleepy Story, Christmas Every Day and more.

$9.99 (39 minutes)

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Christmas Carol, A

Classics
A holiday classic as you've never heard it before. Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and Ebenezer Scrooge come to marvelous life in Patrick Stewart's critically-acclaimed solo interpretation of A Christmas Carol.

The star of X-Men and The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart has perfomed his one-man stage production of this holiday classic to sell-out audiences. Now, in this Grammy nominated studio recording of the dazzling achievement that has thrilled audiences in New York and Los Angeles, Stewart invites listeners to rediscover the timeless story at its source: Dickens' own words, presented in a soaring, virtuoso solo performance in which Stewart plays all parts.

"A low tech audio Christmas cart: no sound effects, no gimmicks, just one of the great voices of the contemporary classical stage creating as vivid a cast of characters as Dickens imagines. The Royal Shakespeare Company veteran ... doesn't so much read the story as inhabit it with infectious delight."  ---  Entertainment Weekly

"Reciting the litany of Scrooge's scrooginess, Stewart relishes the emotional gamut of meanness ... Humbug seldom sounds so good."  ---  Newsweek

"Not only is Patrick Stewart wonderful, but this is surely one of the best performances of A Christmas Carol ever recorded ... By sheer eerhy and dramatic skill, Stewart invests this story with not merely life, but freshness, excitement and wonder."  ---  The Washington Post 
$9.99 (2 hours)

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Case for Christmas, The

Christianity
 

Says Lee Strobel, the author of The Case for Christmas:

Who was in the manger?  

Even after two millennia, controversy continues to swirl around the Christmas child. “Scholarly debate is intensifying over who Jesus actually was: divine, human, or both?” said a recent article in The Chicago Tribune. “Jesus has been portrayed in a burst of books as, among other things, a Cynic philosopher, an apocalyptic prophet, a zealot, a rabbi, a Pharisee, a feminist, a radical egalitarian, and a postmodern social critic.”

Like countless other children, I listened with rapt fascination each year to the traditional Bible story about Christmas. But as I matured, skepticism set in. I concluded that not only is Santa Claus merely a feel-good fable, but that the entire Christmas tale was itself built on a flimsy foundation of wishful thinking.

All of that changed, however, after I took a cue from one of the most famous Bible passages about Christmas. The story, recorded in Luke 2:8-18, describes how an angel announced to a ragtag group of sheepherders that “a Savior who is Messiah and Master” had been born in David’s town. Was this a hoax? A hallucination? Or was it the pivotal event of human history – the incarnation of the Living God?

The sheepherders were determined to get to the bottom of the matter. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can,” they said, “and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, to personally investigate the evidence for themselves.

Two thousand years later, challenged by my agnostic wife’s conversion to Christianity, I also undertook an urgent mission to determine the true identity of the child in the manger. Through interviews with scholars and other experts, I sought to resolve the question best posed by Jesus himself: “Who do you say that I am?”

The Case for Christmas retraces and expands upon my journey by delving into the roots of this most cherished holiday. Can we believe in our scientific age that Jesus was really born of a virgin? Is there astronomical support for the mysterious star that led three individuals to the newly born “king”? Does history support the Bible’s claim that a Roman census sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem or that Herod the Great ruthlessly slaughtered the children of that rural village, seeking to destroy his supposed rival? Did Jesus match the prophetic “fingerprint” of the Messiah? And did he manage to fulfill the attributes of God?

By focusing on the “hows” and whys” of Christmas, this warm yet journalistic book will help believers reaffirm their faith while guiding seekers as they pursue solid answers about this miraculous occurrence.  The evidence is in. The verdict is up to you.

$8.99 (3 hours 30 minutes)

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Horrid Henry's Christmas Cracker

Short Stories
Four fabulously funny stories that will invoke every family's worst Christmas nightmares, as Horrid Henry sabotages the school play, tries to do his Christmas shopping without spending his pocket money, ambushes Father Christmas with some serious accusations, and endures Christmas dinner with the guests from hell.
$4.25 (1 hour)

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Christmas Stories, The

Classics
Robert Whitfields narration allows listeners to recognize how much Dickens wrote for the ear. Whitfield reads these stories like he is telling them beside a winter fire.AudioFile

No writer is more identified with the modern idea of Christmas than Charles Dickens. In some ways, Dickens helped define the holiday that we now celebrate by immortalizing it as a time of warmth and sharing with an emphasis on family and friends.
Dickens wrote all the stories presented here during the 1850s as contributions to the special Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. They reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions and offer a master storytellers vision of the real meaning of Christmas.

Charles Dickens (1812 –1870) was born in Landport, Portsea, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors' prison and child labor and afforded him two years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life.

Earphones Awards recipient Robert Whitfield was born in England and worked for the BBC for ten years as a radio news announcer and also worked as a narrator for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London. In addition to narrating for Blackstone Audiobooks, he involves himself in numerous stage-acting projects in the United States and Europe.
$12.99 (4 hours))

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Christmass

General
 

Alternately laugh-out-loud funny and poignant, Christmas Lights celebrates the most significant aspects of the season. As the holiday approaches, seven women face their separate challenges and hopes and discover why the darkest season can also be the brightest.

In separate vignettes, we meet Katherine, who is taking care of her ailing husband; Julianna, juggling with construction paper, scissors, and rubber cement in a room full of high-spirited four-year-olds; Adrianna, struggling with the difficulties of marriage; Cassandra, tending her toddlers; Victoria, searching for a love to call her own; Alexandra, waiting for word from her doctor about an uncertain diagnosis; and Isabella, discovering the gift of motherhood. The threads of their lives come together in a moving conclusion that perfectly captures the holiday spirit.

$12.99 (3 hours 22 minutes)

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Letters from Father

Classics
This audio comprises a festive reading of letters written by Tolkein to his children, in the guise of Father Christmas, over a period of twenty years.

The letters tell the adventures – and misadventures! – of Father Christmas’s life at the North Pole, and of his helpers – the mischievous North Polar Bear and sensible Ilbereth the Elf.

The letters are perfect for reading aloud, with plenty of humor. They also interspersed with carols and Christmassy music to give a real seasonal feel.

Reviews

‘Tolkien at his relaxed and ingenious best’
The Times

$9.49 (2 hours 8 minutes)

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Child's s Christmas in Wales, A

It is now Thomas’ most widely known work, a wistful, tender, touching, wide-eyed in wonder evocation of the sights, smells and sounds of a child’s Christmas in a seaside town in Wales.
$7.75 (45 minutes)s)

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