Hogfather: Terry Pratchett

The Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . .

Oh, there has to be something in the stocking that makes a noise, said Death, Otherwise what is 4:30 A.M. for?

Superstition makes things work in the Discworld and undermining it can have Consequences. It`s just not right to find Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho . . .

It`s the last night of the year, the time is turning, and if Susan, Gothic governess and Death`s granddaughter (sort of), doesn`t sort everything out by morning, there won`t be a morning. Ever again . . .

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Hogfather is the fourth book in the Death series; a festive feast of darkness (but with jolly robots and tinsel too).