The Christmas Card: The perfect heartwarming novel for Christmas from the Sunday Times bestseller

The Christmas Card: The perfect heartwarming novel for Christmas from the Sunday Times bestseller
Dilly Court

The perfect heartwarming romance for Christmas, rich in historical detail.She turned the picture of the Christmas card over with her frozen hands, a pretty picture of a family gathering at Yuletide. How different from her own life; stiff with cold on the icy cobbles, aching for shelter . . .When her father dies leaving Alice and her ailing mother with only his debts, the two grieving women are forced to rely on the begrudging charity of cruel Aunt Jane. Determined to rid herself of an expensive responsibility, Jane tries forcing Alice into a monstrous marriage. And when Alice refuses, she is sent to work in a grand house to earn her keep.Finding herself in sole charge of the untameable and spoilt young miss of the house, Alice’s only ally is handsome Uncle Rory, who discovers that Alice has talents beyond those of a mere servant. But when someone sets out to destroy her reputation, Alice can only pray for a little of that Christmas spirit to save her from ruin . . .

Copyright (#u5d6aa649-01a1-5bd6-b9ba-aeb3f5e1665a)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

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Copyright © Dilly Court 2016

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016

Cover photographs © Gordon Crabb (girl); Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com) (background).

Dilly Court asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008137380

Ebook Edition © November 2016 ISBN: 9780008137397

Version 2017-05-09

Dedication (#u5d6aa649-01a1-5bd6-b9ba-aeb3f5e1665a)

For Georgina Hawtrey-Woore.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u02bdc3c3-8e40-5f5d-b4ba-6c6f60ccc219)

Title Page (#u823a1b29-4f81-54e1-9269-7509096234a3)

Copyright (#uef37b585-8dce-54a7-ba21-33ba9ed4d38b)

Dedication (#u0f03ca5f-258c-5128-aa6a-96e75669996e)

Chapter One (#u6f9b484c-da6b-5a5e-ae94-5da479ebef4d)

Chapter Two (#u9a26ccd4-b857-5b22-967a-d0a239495ce0)

Chapter Three (#u02d78ace-c9e2-5200-8005-c66bcb6a4526)

Chapter Four (#u899bc55d-fad3-528d-9a94-e82dfc367881)

Chapter Five (#ub0902206-aa4c-58bd-ad19-408277c71568)

Chapter Six (#ub21d5aeb-4114-54ce-ba43-d5c6e2969c77)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)