Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Your most delightful holiday read: the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Christmas Bookshop, from beloved Scottish author Jenny Colgan.
Christmas comes early—far too early—to McCredie’s little Old Town bookshop in Edinburgh. It’s summer, but an American production company has decided that McCredie’s is the perfect location to film a very cheesy Christmas movie. After all, who can resist the charmingly narrow historic street with its Victorian grey stone buildings and warmly lit shop windows?
Carmen Hogan, the bookshop’s manager, is amused and a bit horrified by the goings-on, but the money the studio is paying is too good to pass up. She uses the little windfall from filming to create new displays and fend off a buyout offer from an obnoxious millionaire who wants to turn McCredie’s into a souvenir shop selling kilts made in China and plastic Nessies. Still reeling slightly from a breakup, Carmen’s not particularly looking forward to the holidays. But just as snow begins to fall and the lights of Christmas blink on, all sorts of lovely new possibilities present themselves…for McCredie’s bookstore, and for Carmen herself.
Jenny Colgan’s Christmas bookshop is once again waiting to transport readers to its quaint Victoria Street location in Edinburgh. You may have previously fallen in love with Carmen Hogan in The Christmas Bookshop, or you may arrive here to follow her life struggle in the follow-up Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop.
Oh, Carmen! She can’t find her foothold in her life as she enters her 30s. She has relied on her sister’s basement room as her home base, and after signing on to help Mr. McCredie eke out a small profit from his antiquated bookshop, she seems to be lost in the comfort of both of these.
Victoria Street is Scotland at its best. But time marches on, and the merchants holding on to the tradition of small town values and merchandise are finding it harder and harder to make a living. Ready to swoop in to save everyone from financial ruin is Jackson McClockerty, equipped with large sums to buy out the merchants and to replace their wares with tacky souvenirs, which do not contribute to the history or beauty of Scotland.
Can Carmen hold Mr. McCredie’s bookshop away from those greedy hands? After all, she has her hands full after her sister moves a male nanny into the basement and sends Carmen out to face the world. She seemed to get so close to having a partner who could be by her side. Oke was as baffled as she was in this modern world of money and possessions. But beautiful, kind, quiet Oke finds an open door to a research trip to the jungle, while Carmen only gets an open door to find herself a new living arrangement and a bookshop too small to entice the paying public.
With the setting of one shop window ornamented with a Christmas mouse dollhouse and another with a holiday train, Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop will keep your holiday spirits up as you follow the residents of Edinburgh in their pursuit of simple life pleasures. 
Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Christmas Bookshop, The Bookshop on the Corner, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Christmas at the Cupcake Café. Jenny, her husband, and three children live in a genuine castle in Scotland.
