A fabulously festive guide to navigating the party season with aplomb

Christmas - who’d host it? With fraught hours spent basting the turkey centrepiece, seating plans to curate and a tree to decorate to perfection, it’s a time of stress and sleepless nights for many, but especially those welcoming family and friends into their home. In this new edition of her classic guide, first published in 1968, British culinary icon Fanny Cradock comes to the rescue. Delivering essential advice for navigating the most wonderful time of the year, readers will learn why you should start making your potpourri in June, how to whip up a Hot Baked Grapefruit hors d'oeuvres or Smoked Eel in Puff Pastry fish dish, and options for wine pairings that are ‘modest’ - for more run of the mill gatherings - or ‘fine’, appropriate for occasions where you really want to impress. And for when times get truly tough, there’s a whole chapter of ‘Slap Happy Crisis Substitutes for Serious Cookery’. When it was originally published, Coping with Christmas was a must-have compendium to all things Christmas, with decorative ideas and crafting practices, recipes to see you through every social eventuality, and tips galore. But through a modern lens Fanny and Johnnie’s words feel like a delicious parody, giving a waggish wink and a knowing nod to everyone who feels fettered by the expectation of a ‘perfect’ Christmas. Here, they take on an eccentric new life - full of nostalgia and humour - much needed throughout this most testing of seasons. Told with Fanny and Johnnie Cradock’s trademark caustic wit and overblown attention to detail, and with a new foreword by food writer Felicity Cloake, Coping with Christmas makes the perfect gift for the hostess who’s ready to give up on the whole sorry season.