his is where the story really begins, with Nats freezing with fear on the rope bridge and having to be talked and walked to the safety of the wooden platform, wrapped around the adjacent tree, by a handsome trainer, called Tom.

There seemed to be an attraction forming between Nats and Tom, but she was getting married next week, so 'they' can never be. However, the story flashbacks to this weekend in 2018 later in the book and finds them becoming more than just friends. 

 We are then transported to 2022, where Nats, her husband, Rob and their three year old daughter, Mabel, are returning from a week's holiday at the Maldives and decide to break up the flight back to England with a stopover in an AirBnb in Vienna for a night. However, they are jet lagged and awake late on the Saturday morning to a mess Mabel has made in the apartment and scurry to clean it up and pack their cases, so they don't miss their connecting flight. 

The story inches forward to the Saturday afternoon and we are introduced to Duffy, who has been booked into the same apartment in Vienna. He is settling in and is on a FaceTime call with his German ex-wife, Anya. 

While on the phone, he investigates a bulge in the curtain, near the floor, and pulls it to one side to reveal a stuffed toy, which is a cow. Anya hints it must have been left by a previous guest. He says it reminds him of his childhood and decides to keep it, as he says 'finders keepers'. 

Back in Frome, Somerset, Nats and Hels are enjoying their lives. Rob, an IT engineer with his own company, works away from home a lot, assisting his clients at their premises. The couple have a rescue dog, a golden labrador, Bella and Hels has become the godmother to Mabel. Hels has started seeing a vet named Dave who is new to the town, and she believes this could be the one.

However, when Nats is putting Mabel to bed, they can't find her cow soft toy, Moolah, and Mabel cannot sleep without her soft toy. She is so upset, she starts crying and is inconsolable. Poor Nats is beside herself with worry after she has searched everywhere she can think, with no result. 

This continues for several days and Nats gets very little sleep. Mabel is also disrupting the child-care centre with her tantrums.Their lives have become a nightmare. 

She considers travelling to France, where she bought Moolah, to find a replacement, but is not able to find a duplicate on the internet. Hels suggests that she post an appeal on social media, but very few people seeing it. 

While at her monthly book club meeting, she discusses her problem with the other members. One lady says she has a grand-daughter who posts on social media for her boss, an English celebrity in America. She thinks his name is Harold somebody, and the other ladies suggest it might be Harry Styles. She said yes, that's him. 

Another lady checks on her phone and says he has a sixteen million following. 'Maybe', said the grandmother, 'my grand-daughter could repost Nats' appeal. That might help.' 

After a few days, Nats received a message from Anya, saying she has seen Nats appeal and that her ex had found the toy and taken it with him to Nepal. She would contact him.

Mystery man Duffy is nowhere near a post office, so decides to send Mabel a series of photos and storylines about Moolah's holiday in Nepal, the fact that they are going to the roof of the world and he will get Moolah to 'jump over the moon' when they are there.

Nats is disappointed that Duffy is unable to post Moolah back to her, but calls the messages 'Christmas Postcards', hence the name of the book, and prints and laminates each pic for display on Mabel's bedroom wall. 

Meanwhile, Dave the Vet, finds out that Nats is a pet portrait painter and he has a client, from his old practice, who would like to commission an artist to paint her husband's horse. All these different threads come together in incredible 'stings in the tail' story it is a real page turner.

Author Karen Swan has obviously studied the world of mountaineering in immense detail. Her descriptions of Nepal, the mountains, the people and the formidable weather, especially up the mountain, are staggering. So much so, I could feel the frostbite attacking my body. 

Due to the amount of obscenities included, I can only recommend this book to adults but  readers will be enthralled by the writing skills of the author. 

Unfortunately, I did find a couple of typos and two Americanisms, but they were early in the book and they seem to have been the only occurrences of this misdemeanor. . 

It is a thoroughly enjoyable entertaining reading.

The Author

Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty-five books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year, which are published in the summer and at Christmas. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Secret Path and for winter, Together by Christmas, Midnight in the Snow. Karen lives in Sussex with her husband, three children and two dogs.