The Hamster That Loved Puccini: The Seven Modern Sins of Christmas Round Robin Letters by Simon Hoggart

THE WONDERFULLY ENJOYABLE SEQUEL TO LAST YEAR'S SURPRISE CHRISTMAS BESTSELLER, THE CAT THAT COULD OPEN THE FRIDGE

Simon Hoggart is back with a new treasure-trove of Christmas round robins. And this time the bete noire of the Christmas post illustrates the seven deadly sins of the middle classes, including boastfulness (dazzingly clever children who play the saxophone and ski for Britain); smugness (their jobs, their houses, their holidays are all perfect); tiny-mindedness (do we really need to be told how to start a jigsaw by looking for the straight bits?); whimsy (letters written by pets, even dead ones); and the dreaded over-sharing, in which every illness and operation is described in minute detail.

Accompanied by Hoggart's wickedly funny commentary, The Hamster that Loved Puccini invites us to ponder what compels people to write these letters, and what they tell us about them - and ourselves.