The Christmas Mystery - Gaarder

- by Jostein Gaarder

Written by one-time Norwegian professor of philosophy Jostein Gaarder, The Christmas Mystery (published in 1992) serves up a metaphysical advent calendar which has us running, quite literally, back through time and space, in part to solve the mysterious disappearance of a girl from a department store in Oslo some half a century ago, but also to whisk us back to the very moment when Christianity took its first breath with the birth of Jesus.

The book is enchanting and delightful for young and old alike, and whilst it is intrinsically a deliberation on God and Christian doctrines, it at no point tries to preach to or convert its readers. It can be read on one level as being akin to a fairy tale as innocuous as Snow White, or read on another level which asks you to question your philosophical relationship to the festive season.

Our young hero, Joachim, leads us through each day/chapter of the metaphysical advent calendar as we join in his search to solve the mystery of the girl who ran after a sheep in the middle of a department store and who simply disappeared. To save her and to solve the mystery, he must unravel all the clues by Christmas Eve and the time when the last advent door is finally opened.

If you’ve ever read and enjoyed Paul Coelho’s 'The Alchemist', then Gaarder’s Christmas Mystery should be on your list to start reading on the first of December.

To buy the book, please click here.

 

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