Lost Christmas

Lost Christmas is a book by David Logan.

It's Christmas Eve, 2010. A young boy named Richard Thornhill, known as "Goose" is so disappointed that his father, Paul, has to go to work that he hides his dad's car keys, hoping to keep him home with the family. Unfortunately though, this doesn't work out as intended, and instead sets off a terrible chain of events that nobody could have foreseen...

One year later, it's Christmas Eve again. Goose's life has completely fallen apart - and he's not the only one. Paul's best friend Frank, who's become estranged from his family and working as a fence to fuel his alcoholism; Goose's Alzheimers-suffering Nan; Helen and Henry Taylor, a couple with a serious case of Survivor Guilt and Lhal, an old Indian woman who's lost her precious bangle.

Nothing seems to connect these people - until a mysterious amnesiac man in a colourful coat apparently drops out of the sky. "My Name is Anthony" reads the badge pinned to his chest "How Can I Help"?

It's been described as A Christmas Carol in modern-day Manchester, but Lost Christmas is really its own beast, an extremely well-written and original work. Be warned though, it's a bit of emotional rollercoaster, with Tear Jerkers aplenty.

It was adapted into a TV Christmas Special for BBC in 2011, starring Eddie Izzard. Needs Wiki Magic.

Lost Christmas contains examples of:

 * Classic Mythology: "Death is the brother of sleep" is a reference to Thanatos and Hypnos.
 * Future Me Scares Me:
 * Little-Known Facts: Anthony. Cars honk in the key of F, Mel Blanc's tombstone reads "That's all folks"...
 * Pun-Based Title
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:  even able to use the memory to great effect later
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:  even able to use the memory to great effect later