This week one of our new annuals for 2018 arrived, and it’s one of our personal favourites – The Fireside Book.
We’re delighted to be able to share this lovely book with you for another year. It’s extremely popular as it’s a wonderful book to dip into time and time again throughout the year.
Filled with inspirational thoughts and poems, this handy, pocket-sized book is illustrated with stunning watercolour paintings, and celebrates the changing seasons, friendship, and all that’s to be enjoyed in nature.
The Fireside Book contains sections based around the changing seasons, with interesting snippets of seasonal trivia mixed with lovely extracts from Through the Manse Window. Each season features wonderful poetry, such as this delightful poem by Chrissy Greenslade celebrating the humble daffodil.
For cheerfulness they are the best,
And every year they pass the test.
Now, very soon, they will appear,
For they know spring is growing near.
They’re shooting, budding, even now.
It’s cold, but they’ll survive somehow.
They’ll flowers soon – oh, what a thrill!
My favourite flower – the daffodil.
– Chrissy Greenslade
Filled with lyrical poetry, the Fireside Book is both a refreshing read on a warm summer’s day and a comforting read on a wintry evening – that’s why it’s adored by so many of our readers, as it feels almost like a conversation with an old friend. The theme of friendship is celebrated throughout the book:
‘My old grandmother always used to say, summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends for ever’
– George R.R. Martin
There’s always an element of sadness at the end of summer when the nights start to draw in and the weather turns colder, but the wonderful musings on autumn are enough to lift the spirits.
Sweet autumn days are here again,
Mature times of gladness,
Yet only yesterday it seems
Hares danced in springtime madness!
The new green leaves and shoots of May
Have turned a golden brown,
And scampering squirrels gather nuts
Where fledglings fluttered down.
– George Hughes
Priced at only £7.99, or £13.50 for a 2-pack, this wonderful book makes a lovely treat for yourself or a truly thoughtful gift for a friend – after all, in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson…
‘The only way to have a true friend is to be one.’
The Fireside Book is now available at the DC Thomson Shop.
