A Maggie Mason book is always a true pleasure to read, but A Blackpool Christmas is a bit special as it is the third in the Sandgronians trilogy and winds up the stories of Tilly and her twins, Babs and Beth.

As expected from this amazing writer, Mason gives her characters many trials and tribulations to deal with. Tilly isn't exempt but in this book the twins' stories take centre stage as we follow Beth as she struggles to deal with her loyalty to Jasmine and Roman, the gypsy couple who stole her and her sister as small children, and Babs who thinks she can get on with her life after a tragedy but fate (or the author!) has more heartbreak for her to endure.

What is always so prominent in Mason's books is the sense of family love and friendships. The relationships in the story really make me want to jump in and sit around the fire with the characters. Even though nobody is free from their own misfortunes, there's such a strong feeling of pulling together, helping each other out, and genuine comradeship.

It's really lovely to read about Blackpool in the past and what was particularly interesting in this instalment was reading about people going through the flu pandemic of 1918. The wearing of masks, constant washing of hands and taking such care to try and avoid passing the virus on provided obvious parallels with the current pandemic.

This is not a Christmas book as such but some of the most important scenes take place at that time and I really enjoyed the descriptions of Christmas at Tilly and Tommy's farmhouse. I had to wipe a tear away at the end and I'm so sad that I won't be meeting all the lovely characters again. A Blackpool Christmas is a wonderful, moving and ultimately uplifting story and I loved it. ( )