Eleven year old Esme Lonsdale is opening her stocking. Its contents are thoughtless and wrapped in a bizarre concoction of birthday paper and wet towels, yet Esme is filled with wonder that Father Christmas could have been so ingenious. In reality, Father Christmas is Diana, Esme's mother, a woman wracked with manic depression, an embarrassing ailment to which her husband, Colin, turns a blind eye. So when Diana goes missing in the snow, only Esme and a close family friend, the Duke of Cluny, are worried. But Diana is soon found in the stables, happily drunk and rescued from the blizzard by Jimmy, the irreverent stable-boy. By Boxing Day morning, life changes forever for little Esme, when Colin discovers his wife in a passionate embrace with the Duke. And as the family are dragged home in a mess of tears and rage, it's clear that the affair is only the first skeleton to come tumbling out of the closet...
