To say that 2020 has been a very challenging year for all of us is clearly a huge understatement.

We don’t know about you, but all we really want for Christmas this year is a massive hug from the people who mean the most to us.

We think the last thing anyone needs this Christmas are more crime books about serial killers and earnest private detectives - look, we’re crime publishers and even we can’t stomach it this year - so we’ve decided to do something a bit different for our Christmas Special Edition this year.

We sat around and talked about our favourite Christmas stories, the ones that make us want to eat mince pies and drink mulled wine. The only rule was that cynicism was absolutely banned from the discussion - we can be as gritty and arch as the next noir-hardass but honestly 2020 doesn’t seem like the time for it.

We like to confound expectations at Fahrenheit and we’re very grateful that so far you’ve always come with us, and so this year we’re dropping all the cool as shit, noir punk edginess and going straight up, unashamedly schmaltzy.

The five stories contained within this lovely little stocking filler are all classics and have been chosen by us because they’re our very favourite Christmas stories.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde The Elves And The Shoemaker by The Brothers Grimm The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle The Little Matchgirl by Hans Christian Anderson The Gift Of The Magi by O. Henry

We think these stories are the closest you can get to a Christmas hug in book form.