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12 Days: A Modern Twist on The Twelve Days of Christmas
A modern twist on The Twelve Days of Christmas, this collection of playful tales makes a perfect holday gift. "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…" From a partridge in a pear tree to twelve drummers drumming, here is a collection sure to please even the Scroogiest of readers. Taking the classic Christmas song as inspiration, these twelve stories from some of Britain’s finest contemporary writers are in turn playful, funny, poignant, suspenseful, and magical. No matter what you feel about the festive season, you will find stories here that will lift the spirit, warm the heart, and entertain.
The twelve contributors are, in order of song: A Partridge in a Pear Tree - STELLA DUFFY; Two Turtle Doves - MIKE GAYLE; Three French Hens - ANNABEL GILES; Four Calling Birds - VAL McDERMID; Five Gold Rings - SHELLEY SILAS; Six Geese a Laying - SOPHIE KINSELLA; Seven Swans a Swimming - HELEN CROSS; Eight Maids a Milking - BEN RICHARDS; Nine Ladies Dancing - LAUREN HENDERSON; Ten Lords a Leaping - JAKE ARNOTT; Eleven Pipers Piping - MATT WHYMAN; Twelve Drummers Drumming - PATRICK NEATE.
The twelve contributors are, in order of song: A Partridge in a Pear Tree - STELLA DUFFY; Two Turtle Doves - MIKE GAYLE; Three French Hens - ANNABEL GILES; Four Calling Birds - VAL McDERMID; Five Gold Rings - SHELLEY SILAS; Six Geese a Laying - SOPHIE KINSELLA; Seven Swans a Swimming - HELEN CROSS; Eight Maids a Milking - BEN RICHARDS; Nine Ladies Dancing - LAUREN HENDERSON; Ten Lords a Leaping - JAKE ARNOTT; Eleven Pipers Piping - MATT WHYMAN; Twelve Drummers Drumming - PATRICK NEATE.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 19, 2016
I'm not a fan of short stories at the best of times, I always feel I'm missing the point, left wanting a proper conclusion or...as in the case of some of these...wondering what the hell happened there!
So my thoughts on the stories were as follows;
"A Partridge in a Pear Tree" - nearly gave up on the whole book as I had no idea whatsoever what was going on!
"Two Turtle Doves - okay, at least I understood it.
"Three French Hens - didn't like.
"Four Calling Birds" - liked this apart from one particular scene which I felt was totally unnecessary for this type of book.
"Five Gold Rings"- gave up on this initially but re-read after flicking to the end. Still didn't like it though!
"Six Geese a-laying" - thank god for Sophie Kinsella, at least this was a bit funny.
"Seven Swans a-swimming" - eh? What the chuff was that about?
"Eight Maids a-milking" - passable
"Nine Ladies Dancing" - fairytale style story, quite nice.
"Ten Lords a-leaping" - another one that was alright
"Eleven Pipers Piping" - jury's still out on this one....
"Twelve Drummers Drumming" - liked this.
So giving a two star rating as some were okay & I did like the idea of the twists on the "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song - some were quite clever & original - even if I didn't like the actual tales!
So my thoughts on the stories were as follows;
"A Partridge in a Pear Tree" - nearly gave up on the whole book as I had no idea whatsoever what was going on!
"Two Turtle Doves - okay, at least I understood it.
"Three French Hens - didn't like.
"Four Calling Birds" - liked this apart from one particular scene which I felt was totally unnecessary for this type of book.
"Five Gold Rings"- gave up on this initially but re-read after flicking to the end. Still didn't like it though!
"Six Geese a-laying" - thank god for Sophie Kinsella, at least this was a bit funny.
"Seven Swans a-swimming" - eh? What the chuff was that about?
"Eight Maids a-milking" - passable
"Nine Ladies Dancing" - fairytale style story, quite nice.
"Ten Lords a-leaping" - another one that was alright
"Eleven Pipers Piping" - jury's still out on this one....
"Twelve Drummers Drumming" - liked this.
So giving a two star rating as some were okay & I did like the idea of the twists on the "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song - some were quite clever & original - even if I didn't like the actual tales!
December 4, 2017
12 Days has been very poorly reviewed here on Goodreads, something which I found out after picking up a copy in a charity shop. I liked the central idea, in which twelve authors each choose one of the lines in 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', and adapt that into a short story. 12 Days is rather a mixed bag; a few of the tales here were interesting or entertaining, but others were confusing or downright weird. The concept would have worked far better, I feel, had all of the authors been ones I had heard of; as it was, many of them were unknown to me, and I do not feel prompted to pick up the novels or plays of any of them after finishing the book.
December 11, 2025
Overall rating: 1 star
Overall thoughts: This was NOT GOOD. The Sophie Kinsella story was the best one, which I expected because I love her, but I wasn’t expecting almost everything else to be HORRIBLE. Two Turtle-Doves was pretty good as well. All the others were dark and depressing and most of them weren’t even set at Christmas. A lot of the references from the song were just weird and most of the stories themselves were awful. All that to say — read Six Geese A Laying and maybe Two Turtle-Doves; don’t bother with anything else in this horrible collection. This should not be marketed as a Christmas book since only a few stories actually took place at Christmastime. I don’t want to read about cocaine addicts, infidelity, and other stuff like that at any time of the year but especially not at Christmas. Ugh.
A Partridge in a Pear Tree — 1 star
What a horrid story to start the collection! I had no idea what was going on. From what I gather, the Princess of Spain (who narrates in italics) is obsessed with trees and comes to this guy because he has grown a pear tree? And somehow is in love with him because of that? They met, had tea, and then had sex on the kitchen floor. It was weird.
Two Turtle-Doves — 3.5 stars
Well, this was a significant improvement over the first story. Having “Turtle-Dove” be their last name was an interesting touch. Easy enough to follow and I feel like it ended on a hopeful note.
Three French Hens — 1 star
Yeesh that was horrible! The 3 French hens are three women all involved with the same man, and they have to deal with the fallout from that after he dies. Ugh. No Christmas whatsoever and horribly depressing. I’m beginning to see why this collection has such low rating on Goodreads!
Four Calling Birds — 1 star
What the heck was that??? Absolutely no Christmas in this story either and while it was clever to have the four calling birds be four women bingo callers, the weird robbery to teach the guy a lesson (complete with a random scene of oral sex) was completely gross and weird. Hated this one.
Five Gold Rings — 1 star
While I appreciate that this was based on a true story, it was way too dark and depressing to be in a Christmas story! The sound of 5 bullets ringing out as they shot someone is not what I had in mind for 5 gold rings!
Six Geese A-Laying — 5 stars!
I knew Sophie Kinsella, my favorite author (RIP 😢) wouldn’t let me down! This was Christmassy, well developed despite being quite short, and also had some nods to A Christmas Carol. The six geese a-laying are six pregnant women - each with a G name! That was clever and fun. Get it? The six “g”’s a laying?? I love it! Such a great interpretation of the story. And as someone whose own baby was born around Christmas, this really resonated with me in that regard as well. There was some intrigue and humor and it really made all the other duds in the collection worth it. Objectively it might not actually be a 5 star read but compared to everything else in this collection it certainly is!
Seven Swans A-Swimming — 1 star
And we’re back to a horrible story. I don’t like infidelity in books. I also don’t understand the point or what the swans had to do with anything. Is that supposed to be symbolic of her trying to decide to stay faithful to her husband?
Eight Maids A-Milking — 1 star
No! The connection to the 8 maids a milking was a weird little porno story?!?
Nine Ladies Dancing — 2 stars
It wasn’t horrible (which for this story collection is saying a lot!) but I didn’t love it either. It’s a fantasy story which is fine except for the fact that it has nothing to do with Christmas.
Ten Lords A-Leaping — 3 stars
Though I don’t usually like to read mysteries or thrillers around Christmas, this was a Sherlock Holmes style story (complete with a Watson-esque narrator). The lords leaping refers to all the male members of the family dying to suicide from jumps (or “leaps”). I didn’t love that but it was still interesting to see the Holmes character figure out the truth. Also, did that have a reference to the actual Sherlock Holmes at the end? There was a reference to “The Musgrave Ritual.” While I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story it was also very depressing which is not what I want in a Christmas book and it took me forever to figure out that it was not a contemporary.
Eleven Pipers Piping — 1 star
The eleven pipers piping are crack cocaine addicts??? Awful.
Twelve Drummers Drumming — 1 star
Depressing, and had nothing to do with Christmas. Some kind of government protest that went awry?
Overall thoughts: This was NOT GOOD. The Sophie Kinsella story was the best one, which I expected because I love her, but I wasn’t expecting almost everything else to be HORRIBLE. Two Turtle-Doves was pretty good as well. All the others were dark and depressing and most of them weren’t even set at Christmas. A lot of the references from the song were just weird and most of the stories themselves were awful. All that to say — read Six Geese A Laying and maybe Two Turtle-Doves; don’t bother with anything else in this horrible collection. This should not be marketed as a Christmas book since only a few stories actually took place at Christmastime. I don’t want to read about cocaine addicts, infidelity, and other stuff like that at any time of the year but especially not at Christmas. Ugh.
A Partridge in a Pear Tree — 1 star
What a horrid story to start the collection! I had no idea what was going on. From what I gather, the Princess of Spain (who narrates in italics) is obsessed with trees and comes to this guy because he has grown a pear tree? And somehow is in love with him because of that? They met, had tea, and then had sex on the kitchen floor. It was weird.
Two Turtle-Doves — 3.5 stars
Well, this was a significant improvement over the first story. Having “Turtle-Dove” be their last name was an interesting touch. Easy enough to follow and I feel like it ended on a hopeful note.
Three French Hens — 1 star
Yeesh that was horrible! The 3 French hens are three women all involved with the same man, and they have to deal with the fallout from that after he dies. Ugh. No Christmas whatsoever and horribly depressing. I’m beginning to see why this collection has such low rating on Goodreads!
Four Calling Birds — 1 star
What the heck was that??? Absolutely no Christmas in this story either and while it was clever to have the four calling birds be four women bingo callers, the weird robbery to teach the guy a lesson (complete with a random scene of oral sex) was completely gross and weird. Hated this one.
Five Gold Rings — 1 star
While I appreciate that this was based on a true story, it was way too dark and depressing to be in a Christmas story! The sound of 5 bullets ringing out as they shot someone is not what I had in mind for 5 gold rings!
Six Geese A-Laying — 5 stars!
I knew Sophie Kinsella, my favorite author (RIP 😢) wouldn’t let me down! This was Christmassy, well developed despite being quite short, and also had some nods to A Christmas Carol. The six geese a-laying are six pregnant women - each with a G name! That was clever and fun. Get it? The six “g”’s a laying?? I love it! Such a great interpretation of the story. And as someone whose own baby was born around Christmas, this really resonated with me in that regard as well. There was some intrigue and humor and it really made all the other duds in the collection worth it. Objectively it might not actually be a 5 star read but compared to everything else in this collection it certainly is!
Seven Swans A-Swimming — 1 star
And we’re back to a horrible story. I don’t like infidelity in books. I also don’t understand the point or what the swans had to do with anything. Is that supposed to be symbolic of her trying to decide to stay faithful to her husband?
Eight Maids A-Milking — 1 star
No! The connection to the 8 maids a milking was a weird little porno story?!?
Nine Ladies Dancing — 2 stars
It wasn’t horrible (which for this story collection is saying a lot!) but I didn’t love it either. It’s a fantasy story which is fine except for the fact that it has nothing to do with Christmas.
Ten Lords A-Leaping — 3 stars
Though I don’t usually like to read mysteries or thrillers around Christmas, this was a Sherlock Holmes style story (complete with a Watson-esque narrator). The lords leaping refers to all the male members of the family dying to suicide from jumps (or “leaps”). I didn’t love that but it was still interesting to see the Holmes character figure out the truth. Also, did that have a reference to the actual Sherlock Holmes at the end? There was a reference to “The Musgrave Ritual.” While I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story it was also very depressing which is not what I want in a Christmas book and it took me forever to figure out that it was not a contemporary.
Eleven Pipers Piping — 1 star
The eleven pipers piping are crack cocaine addicts??? Awful.
Twelve Drummers Drumming — 1 star
Depressing, and had nothing to do with Christmas. Some kind of government protest that went awry?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
did-not-finish
December 26, 2021Will continue next Christmas.
November 27, 2011
This book ABSOLUTELY SUCKED. Nice Concept - 12 short stories, each one taking the theme of one of the items in the "12 Days of Christmas" song. Most of the writing was horrible, twisted, pointless and did NOT put me in the Christmas Spirit. The 2nd story was readable and maybe the 9th, but other than that, it sucked. I've had it for almost 2 years but never had the urge to read it and now I know why. Would give it half a star if I could.
January 22, 2008
actually gave up as it was rubbish
December 22, 2017
This book was not my cup of tea. I struggled through all of the stories and the Christmas ties were very loose. I was disappointed.
December 10, 2022
It's hard to rate a book that consists of 12 very different stories. So I counted how many stories I liked and based my rating on that. I like 7 stories out of 12 so that's 58%. I opted for a 3-star.
First and foremost, I think anyone who expected this book to be all about Christmas would not really get what they want. I think the design of the book cover or the foreword really did not claim that it would be a Christmas-themed book. It's just simple stories that had the "12 days of Christmas" as their prompts. I was fine with that and was even impressed by how diverse the stories are and how each author interpreted the prompts so uniquely.
The very first story, A Partridge in a Pear Tree, was a difficult story to get into and it's hard to push through the other stories when you start with that. The only thing I can remember of this story was the kitchen floor love-making, and maybe a princess.
Still, I managed to finish the book, so here are my short thoughts on each of the stories:
Two Turtle-Doves was fine.
Three French Hens was spicy and as always with stories like this, it made me roll my eyes at any men and their infidelities.
Four Calling Birds was good for me. I don't know if that one uncalled scene was necessarily needed for the plot or if it was just there for a grittier effect.
Five Gold Rings was a sad story, especially since it was based on a true story.
Six Geese a-Laying was my favorite! It had enough mystery and spook.
Seven Swans a-Swimming was not so memorable to me. I'm not even sure if I understood every part of it. Did Nick cheat on Lola? I am not sure.
Eight Maids a-milking, I am not sure if the prompt was well applied here but I enjoyed the story mostly because that one line about a lingering sadness that the protagonist claims is something he can survive or live by resonated within me. I also liked that Jim questioned if there's any purpose of his living normally in contrast to his venturous past now that he claims he wouldn't meet people like Scott and Eva anymore and then the story proceeds to show a purpose for him anyway. At least I perceived the story that way.
Nine Ladies Dancing was a nice touch of fantasy, but I don't easily root for the unwarranted saving of a damsel out of love at first sight.
Ten Lords a-Leaping was a hard read. I didn't like it that much as well.
Eleven Pipers Piping - couldn't care about it. I just can't agree on some points about that story.
Twelve Drummers Drumming - this one made me teary, thanks to it's last sentence. This is probably my second favorite.
First and foremost, I think anyone who expected this book to be all about Christmas would not really get what they want. I think the design of the book cover or the foreword really did not claim that it would be a Christmas-themed book. It's just simple stories that had the "12 days of Christmas" as their prompts. I was fine with that and was even impressed by how diverse the stories are and how each author interpreted the prompts so uniquely.
The very first story, A Partridge in a Pear Tree, was a difficult story to get into and it's hard to push through the other stories when you start with that. The only thing I can remember of this story was the kitchen floor love-making, and maybe a princess.
Still, I managed to finish the book, so here are my short thoughts on each of the stories:
Two Turtle-Doves was fine.
Three French Hens was spicy and as always with stories like this, it made me roll my eyes at any men and their infidelities.
Four Calling Birds was good for me. I don't know if that one uncalled scene was necessarily needed for the plot or if it was just there for a grittier effect.
Five Gold Rings was a sad story, especially since it was based on a true story.
Six Geese a-Laying was my favorite! It had enough mystery and spook.
Seven Swans a-Swimming was not so memorable to me. I'm not even sure if I understood every part of it. Did Nick cheat on Lola? I am not sure.
Eight Maids a-milking, I am not sure if the prompt was well applied here but I enjoyed the story mostly because that one line about a lingering sadness that the protagonist claims is something he can survive or live by resonated within me. I also liked that Jim questioned if there's any purpose of his living normally in contrast to his venturous past now that he claims he wouldn't meet people like Scott and Eva anymore and then the story proceeds to show a purpose for him anyway. At least I perceived the story that way.
Nine Ladies Dancing was a nice touch of fantasy, but I don't easily root for the unwarranted saving of a damsel out of love at first sight.
Ten Lords a-Leaping was a hard read. I didn't like it that much as well.
Eleven Pipers Piping - couldn't care about it. I just can't agree on some points about that story.
Twelve Drummers Drumming - this one made me teary, thanks to it's last sentence. This is probably my second favorite.
February 4, 2023
This is what I get for finding a book under one author that I like and not bothering to check out the rating or review on this book. It's not that every story in this book is a 1 star story, not at all. One is a 3 star rating. However, a couple are worth negative stars. If you're looking for a fun Christmas read, this is not it. It's mostly darkish to very dark. Some of them are just plain stupid. Plus I haven't liked most short stories for some years now--I loved them when I was in my teens (not all of them, of course, but I was very much into them plus long fiction back then.)
A few are fairly clever, but I would have to say that the best of the lot was the one by Sophie Kinsella, but it's not her best work nor would I bother to read it again.
A few are fairly clever, but I would have to say that the best of the lot was the one by Sophie Kinsella, but it's not her best work nor would I bother to read it again.
July 8, 2018
A beautiful collection of short stories all based around "the 12 days of Christmas" song. Very easy to read and some very inventive stories.
May 6, 2019
Short story collections are always tough to rate. Some stories were 5 stars, but there were definitely a few duds as well.
December 31, 2019
I really enjoyed this. I don't read enough short stories. Some very clever ideas. Some bittersweet.
December 31, 2019
I enjoyed this book, 12 short stories based on the 12 Days of Christmas. Some stories were better than others, I especially enjoyed Two Turtle-Doves, Four Calling Birds and Six Geese-a-Laying.
November 14, 2020
Absolute trash! I was lost the majority of the time.
December 28, 2021
Not at all what I was expecting and quite frankly one of the stories was horrid; sexual assault is not my idea of a Christmas story.
July 3, 2010
The first story was so bad that I almost gave up. Thankfully, there are some gems in here, tucked between the rubbish. I don't have the book to hand but from memory I liked Four Calling Birds, Five Gold Rings, Six Geese a-Laying, and Seven Swans a-Swimming. I have a feeling there were a couple more towards the end that I liked, but I can't remember what they were about now. (So obviously this wasn't a particularly memorable book, but it was okay for whiling away an afternoon.)
December 23, 2011
This was an interesting collection of Christmas tnamed stories - each one called after one of the twelve days. 5 Gold Rings was the saddest, based on a true story in Bethlehem - not the one you'd think though! - and other than 11 pipers piping which was slightly disturbing and the initial partridge tale which I have read twice and cannot undertsnad! - I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
March 11, 2011
The books were sorted by 12 short stories written by 12 different authors in regards to the lyric of "12 Days" Christmas song. It surely amused me and kick away the boredom. All have different styles of story telling and a wide range of genre stories (mostly about love though).
December 10, 2011
reviewed at Mama Kucing Meow: 12 Days: A Modern Twist on The Twelve Days of Christmas edited by Shelley Silas
For me, it was not that great. Not really Christmassy type of story
For me, it was not that great. Not really Christmassy type of story
January 23, 2017
among the 12 short stories, only 3 stories stood out and were quite memorable: 2 turtle doves, 5 gold rings and 6 geese a laying. the rest were just so-so stories, not really Christmas-y but i enjoyed the entire book nevertheless.
December 12, 2011
There's very few stories in this that are any good. Was told it was very festive- It is not. It's the title that catches you. The concept is great but most of the stories are okay.
December 28, 2012
6 Geese was probably the best. Ladies Dancing was a good concept. Other stories were disappointing.
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