Tender and bittersweet, these three interlinked stories are Truman Capote's captivating tribute to the Christmas season

Looking back on childhood Christmases on his relatives' sprawling Alabama farm, Buddy records his unlikely friendship with his beloved maiden 'aunt', Sook: foraging for pecans to bake into fruitcakes and greenery to decorate the house; rising before dawn to prepare feasts for a ragged assembly of family, farmhands and neighbours; making kites - too broke to buy gifts - to fly beneath crisp winter skies. And he remembers how it was fair-minded, kind-natured Sook who comforted him when harsh realities - luckless parents, cruel classmates and the injustice of the adult world - intruded on this simple existence. With her irrepressible sense of wonder and fun, Sook taught him the true meaning of good will.