I recommend

Seriously, this does not often happen. 

I am quite picky about what I even embark on trying to watch on TV, or go to the cinema to see. Every now and then there's something I like, but only once in a while. A lot of what's on offer I'd actually go a long way to avoid and pay to miss, and even the good stuff usually has its disappointments, strikes a bum note.

On Wednesday the women of our house sallied forth to see Frozen 2. In all honesty I went just because it's fun to do something together. Disney animations are unlikely to be something I'd chose to view left to myself. But I wanted to go because the others were going.

But Frozen 2 is brilliant. Braced for it to descend into cliché and mediocrity, as it unfolded I found myself cautiously realising, "but this is good!" It was. All the way through. When it got to the end, my inner child was already clamouring, "Again! Again!"

I wholeheartedly recommend it. 





But wait, there's more!

A few years ago we stopped doing Christmas and birthday presents in our household, but things have changed since then. Of my five children, two are twins who live in the same house as me, and they always like to give each other presents. One has moved far away from here and doesn't always get back for Christmas, so we like to pack up a box of happiness because she's all by herself where she is. One has moved into her own apartment and has nobody but us to put presents under her tree and put the happy into Christmas. The remaining one is a Mother, and as we all know that means Putting Others First, which can be a bit tedious so you need your people to redress the balance. And then of course there's also the grandchildren, for whom it would be unthinkable to skip presents, and my mother who is making clearer with every passing day what the phrase "second childhood" means; obviously she needs a present on Christmas Day. So presents have snuck back onto the menu.

But my brave husband has stuck to his guns and isn't doing presents, and we all think that's absolutely fine — we're on the trail of happiness not obligation.

So then he came home today and told me he'd got a present for me, but he wanted to give it to me now because he didn't want to start up Christmas presents all over again — he said he just got it because he knows I like beautiful things. Which, of course, I do.

And he gave me this book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy — which, just published, is already almost at the top of the Amazon best-seller list, and people are buying in multiple copies for Christmas presents. It's easy to see why.

Oh, my goodness it is lovely! It's just the best book ever! Note perfect, this book will be a classic as beloved as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince.

It is full of gentle and healing wisdom, funny and delightful.

And beautiful.

The publisher's blurb describes it as "A book of hope for uncertain times", and that's exactly what it is.

And how often would that happen — to come across not one but two such delights in one week?

Brilliant.