Joy to the World

About this story

Joy to the World revisits Frogmorton Farm at Christmas, with Jenny and Russell's daughter at the centre of the difficulty. Joy wants to grow up faster than her father would like. Their disagreement darkens the family's festive prospects until Thomas steps in to help.

The site's view is that this premise makes the short especially suited to readers interested in how the farm's family changes over time. The problem comes from two recognisable and conflicting wishes, rather than a grand outside threat.

Thomas's involvement brings the series' unusual companion into an intimate Christmas situation, with the father-daughter relationship supplying the story's immediate stakes.

The short belongs after The Something Girl, when the earlier novels have supplied the household's background. Read it in its individual ebook or in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Lucy Price-Lewis narrates the separate audiobook, lasting 1 hour 6 minutes.

That format offers a compact seasonal return to the farm without beginning another full-length novel.