In each issue we'll ask avid readers and writers to tell us what they think of our favourite recent short story or poem. For this Winter issue, we've fallen in love with Nell Leyshon's short story 'Christmas Eve', so we've scoured the web and asked readers to let us know what they think of our star story.
Henry Colls: Wow. You finish it and you just want to curl up and have it sung to you. Leyshon has so honestly encapsulated what it's like to be a child, a teenager and a fully grown adult all in such a short space, and so few words. We all, at one stage or another, experience emotions that we sometimes don't recognise, or don't yet have a name for, and we can sometimes feel we're all alone because of this, but Leyshon shows us that we're not, and someone's probably feeling just as lonely, literally, next door. She lets us remember our roots; tells us its okay to want to be a kid again, because it's hard. Being an adult is hard. What captures the true Christmas spirit better than family, companionship, a desire not to be lonely? A beautiful story, both uplifting and thoughtful and immediately memorable.
Darcie Soanes: Do you have an 'ultimate favourite food' that really is your favourite? Not the kind you get sick of, but the kind you can appreciate over and over again, savouring each bite? The kind of food you miss once it's gone. This is how Leyshon's 'Christmas Eve' is for me - no matter how many times I read it, it still tastes just as good, with a finale of 'oh-so-sweet' flavours in the last paragraph each time.
Star Story