Author(s): Jostein Gaarder (illus Sarah Gibb/ tr Elizabeth Rokkan)

Children & Young Adult

A boy called Joachim acquires a strange old Advent calender - and uncovers from it the story of a girl called Elisabet, who disappeared from her home fifty years earlier. Elisabet has been taken back through time and right across Europe to Palestine, to see the Holy Family in Bethlehem. Two thousand years of history flash by, and angels, shepherds and wise men join her on her joyful pilgrimage. It is Joachim who, through the Advent calendar, makes it possible for her to come home. This edition of The Christmas Mystery has been abridged for younger readers. First published in Norwegian 1992; in English 1996; this abridged edition 2002.