‘A work of understated power, intelligence and not a little mischief’ INDEPENDENT ‘Funny, touching and profound’ FINANCIAL TIMES ‘Another seemingly effortless Ford masterpiece’ DAILY MAIL Christmas brings Frank Bascombe to the Default Period of his life. Now sixty-eight, Frank resides again in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam, and has thrived – seemingly but not utterly – amid the devastations of Hurricane Sandy, which has left countless lives unmoored, and is remarkably the perfect occasion for Ford and Bascombe to relay four Christmas stories. With a flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence, Ford ranges over the full complement of universal subjects: ageing, race, loss, faith, marriage, the real estate debacle – the tumult of the world we live in.