The best Christmas novel I’ve ever read is Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections. Christmas is the impetus for the plot, the telling of each family member’s life put in motion by Enid, the matriarch, attempting to have ‘one last Christmas’ at St Louis before Alfred (the father) slips further into Parkinson’s.

One of the funniest parts is where Chip, the cultural studies academic, realises it is the last day to send presents and picks the newest looking books off his shelf to send. He wraps them in aluminium foil; when the corners poke through he patches them up with abortion rights stickers he had in his desk drawer.

What’s the best Christmas novel you’ve read?