Elizabeth Hopkinson's Hidden Grove

I was born at Christmas time. I think that's why I like winter and Christmas so much. Right now, I am working on a winter fantasy I have been trying to write on and off for years, in which the ghosts of the Wolf Tribe ride on Christmas Eve. I expect all of us book lovers have books we like to read again and again at this time of year. It's lovely to snuggle up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and the Christmas lights on, enjoying a magical read. At the moment, I'm reading The Toy Makers  by Robert Dinsdale, about a magical toy emporium that opens each year with the first snow of winter. I bought the book in summer, and it seemed weird and wrong. Re-reading it in December is just perfect. But I also have some regular favourites: The Box of Delights   by John Masefield. Both the book and the 1980s TV series always thrill me, when I hear the words: "The wolves are running." (Ooh, do I spot an influence? I hear you say.) The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder, ab...

  In December, I wrote a blog about The Box of Delights , which fans of the Christmas classic were kind enough to enjoy.  For my birthday, I received my very own box of delights, a keepsake box with a secret way of opening.  What could I possibly keep in it?  How could I make it as magical as the box Cole Hawlings gives to Kay Harker?  Obviously, it couldn't really transport me into the past or on an adventure with Herne the Hunter.  Or could it?  What if I turned it into my own miniature cabinet of curiosities? Cabinets of curiosity have fascinated me for a while now.  They feature in Brian Selznick's wonderful children's book, Wonderstruck .  I once went to a multi-arts event entirely inspired by them.  And I've just (in the last hour) looked round an exhibition very much in the spirit of the curiosity cabinet, Stranger Than Fiction by Joan Fontcuberta.   The artist has created photos (and actual taxidermy) of strange beasts, of t...

My vintage copy of The Box of Delights by John Masefield I made a wonderful discovery this week.  This year - 2014 - marks 30 years since the BBC first showed their iconic TV dramatisation of The Box of Delights, the magical Christmas story by John Masefield.  I was 10 years old in 1984, and I remember it well.  Herne the Hunter.  Curates who turn into wolves.  Kidnapped choirboys.  "The Boy" appearing out of a table.  The mysterious Punch-and-Judy man, Cole Hawlings.  And the phrase that still has the power to put a shiver down my spine: The wolves are running. 30 years on, and the magic hasn't died.  I've read the book Christmas after Christmas.  I've watched the series again on YouTube as an adult.  The Carol Symphony by Victor Hely Hutchinson, used as the theme tune, is on my Christmas playlist.  And I'm still trying to write The King of Ice Leaves, influenced by The Box of Delights.  One day... Recently, ...