A Christmas Story

Richard Burton has been quoted as saying that he would rather be a writer than an actor.

A Christmas story is singular proof that the ambition is not misplaced. It is a truly memorable tale that will seize and hold the heart of every reader.

Autobiographical in tone, the story is told from the point of view of an eight-year-old boy living in such a Welsh mining town as the one in which Mr Burton himself spent his childhood.

It has a great sense of place, of community and of character, and strength and humour. No one will forget Sister and Mad Dan, not Mrs Tabor T.B. And “Tommy Elliott’s farm” is likely to become everybody’s idea of what not to get for Christmas.