If you are new here, the history of Christmas is one of my main areas of study as an historian. As such, I always give a book about holiday history a try at least. While those tries sometimes end in disappointment, I had the exact opposite with this book. I had mid-level hopes for this book and it has turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year. If you are making time to read any books this holiday season, this is a must-read! Welcome to our first Holiday Book Bite of Blogmas, The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listening Arc in exchange for a review. Unfortunately, the audiobook disappeared in the NetGalley app, so I also bought it myself.
The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures, Sarah Clegg
Discover the monsters, witches, and other ghoulish creatures that make up lesser known Christmas folklore in this gleefully creepy guide-perfect for horror fans who love the wintry holidays.
When you think about Christmas, you likely picture mangers, glowing fireplaces, sweet carolers, and snow-blanketed hills. But behind all this bright magic, there’s something much darker lurking in the shadows. In The Dead of Winter, Cambridge-trained historian Sarah Clegg delves deep into the folklore of the Christmas season in Europe, detailing the way its terrifying and often debaucherous past continues to haunt and entertain us now in the twenty-first century.
Perfect for the growing mainstream audience obsessed with horror and monsters, this guide makes the perfect gift, beautifully packaged in a stocking-stuffer-friendly trim size.
Why You Should Read This…
As someone who studies the history of Christmas, this is right up my alley. If you are from North America (or even the UK), your holiday celebrations tend not to have many pesky or dark creatures involved. However, much of the rest of the world does have their own supernatural figures/beings who often take a different vibe.
Because I study the holiday season, I tend to be fairly picky about books in related subjects. However, I am happy to share that I think Clegg has done a fantastic job with The Dead of Winter! She has taken a truly novel approach to an interesting subject and it pays off.
This book is set up as a series of quasi-essays rather than straight history, and I think that makes them even more readable. Clegg travelled to all of these different regions to experience their current “forms” and I think that it helps drive home why history is both interesting and needed. Although I have to say, some of these Christmas-related celebrations are far more violent and upsetting than many of us realise.
Note: I am quite a scaredy-cat, and I was able to read this no problem when I never read horror.
The history here is solid, as well. It is not an academic book, so Clegg is not determined to cover every single aspect of a figure. While she does not miss anything major, this helps the book to move at a good pace. I think that the subject matter is also unique enough that this will interest anyone who is curious about folklore/mythology in general, not only in regards to Christmas. This is a great book for someone interested in the darker side of Christmas or the origins of current figures!
Is The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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