Richard Ford returns with four deftly linked Christmas stories narrated by the iconic Frank Bascombe. Now sixty-eight Frank resides again in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam and has thrived - seemingly but not utterly - amidst the devastations of Hurricane Sandy. The desolations of Sandy which left countless lives unmoored are the perfect backdrop for Ford - and Bascombe. With a flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence these stories range over the full complement of universal subjects: ageing race loss faith marriage the real estate debacle - the tumult of the world we live in.