Book & chocolate pairings to celebrate Jólabókaflóð this year
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been compiling a host of gift guides to help you with your Christmas shopping.
Jólabókaflóð (say it with us, yo-la-bok-a-flot) is the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books and chocolate with loved ones on Christmas Eve. It might be too hot for the blankets and fireplace snuggles of a Nordic Christmas here in Australia, but we’re very happy to embrace the gift of a good book and something delicious to share (or not!). Here are our picks for the best chocolates to pair with some of our favourite books this year.
The Searcher by Tana French
Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland, planning to put his old police instincts to bed forever. Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. Something is wrong in this community, and Cal must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door. Tana French has woven a masterful tale of breathtaking beauty and suspense, asking what we sacrifice in our search for truth and justice – and what we risk if we don’t.
Pair with a block of
Lucky’s by Andrew Pippos
Lucky’s is a story of family. It is also about a man called Lucky. His restaurant chain. A fire that changed everything. A New Yorker article which might save a career. The mystery of a missing father. An impostor who got the girl. An unthinkable tragedy. A roll of the dice. And a story of love, lost, sought and won again. This unforgettable debut novel will stay with you long after the final page.
Pair with a nostalgic classic block of
The Palace Letters by Professor Jenny Hocking
What role did the queen play in the governor-general Sir John Kerr’s plans to dismiss prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, which unleashed one of the most divisive episodes in Australia’s political history? The letters between the queen and the governor-general about the dismissal have been locked away for decades in the National Archives of Australia. Professor Jenny Hocking embarked on a four-year legal battle to force the Archives to release the letters. Now, drawing on never-before-published material from Kerr’s archives and her submissions to the court, Hocking traces the collusion and deception behind the dismissal.
Enjoy with some scandalously spicy
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula’s time-travelling offer. This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
Perfect with a mini-sized bar of
Group by Christie Tate
Christie Tate had just been named the top student in her law school class and finally had her eating disorder under control. Why then was she driving through Chicago fantasising about her own death? Enter Dr. Rosen, a therapist who calmly assures her that if she joins one of his psychotherapy groups, he can transform her life. All she has to do is show up and be honest. About everything, in front of complete strangers. So begins her entry into the strange, terrifying, and ultimately life-changing world of group therapy.
Pair with a generous handful of
Bees and Their Keepers by Lotte Möller
Beekeeper and garden historian Lotte Möller explores the activities inside and outside the hive while charting the bees’ natural order and habits. With a light touch she uses her encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject to shed light on humanity’s understanding of bees and bee lore from antiquity to the present. In her travels Möller encounters a trigger-happy Californian beekeeper raging against both killer bees and bee politics, warring beekeepers on the Danish island of Læsø, and a host of others as passionate as she about the complex world of apiculture both past and present.
Enjoy with the
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
When Lucie Tang Churchill meets George Zao, she can’t stand him - He’s a self-righteous eco-warrior that takes himself much too seriously. And no-one should look that good in Speedos. Worried about what her Mayflower-descended, Wall Street-wealthy family might think, Lucie returns to the safety of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. So when she meets Cecil, a suave billionaire more concerned with his Instagram account than the planet, she thinks she’s found the perfect way to forget George… Gloriously decadent and wildly romantic, Sex and Vanity is a delicious satire on the grandest of scales.
Pair with a half-eaten box of
Luster by Raven Leilani
Edie is messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all white office, sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if life wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling headfirst into Eric’s home and family. This is a painfully funny coming-of-age story told by a fresh new voice.
Pair with a block of
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
When she receives a disturbing letter from her recently-married cousin Catalina, socialite Noemí Taboada leaves the glittering world of 1950’s Mexico City for the country and the decaying mansion that Catalina now calls home. When she gets there she discovers a ruthless housekeeper, strangely monotonous servants, a deeply unsettling patriarch, and a pair of alluring brothers. Described as part du Maurier, part del Toro, Mexican Gothic is a supernatural thriller to sink your teeth into.
Pair with a mug of
Death in Daylesford by Kerry Greenwood
When a mysterious invitation arrives for Miss Phryne Fisher from an unknown Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne’s curiosity is excited. Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria’s spa country for shell-shocked soldiers of the First World War. It’s a cause after Phryne’s own heart but what could Spencer want from her? Full of disappearances, murder, bombs, booby-traps and strange goings-on, Death in Daylesford sees the intrepid Miss Fisher on a most exciting adventure.
Perfect enjoyed with the
The Survivors by Jane Harper
Jane Harper’s most recent bestseller centres on Kieran, who returns to his childhood home for the first time in three years. Tragic and mysterious events have unfolded in Evelyn Bay in the past, and another is about to occur. Are they related? With plot twists and turns galore, as well as a strong and sympathetic protagonist, this novel cements Harper’s already stellar reputation.
Pair with a block of
