Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi

 Ten-year old Ronja dreams of a different life - one in which her alcoholic father holds down a job and she has a happy Christmas. When her father gets a job selling Christmas trees, her hopes are realised but only for a short time. Brave sixteen-year old Melissa decides to take his place and gives Ronja a job too. These are happier times but their father’s alcoholism, a nasty boss and constant struggles in spite of some kindly people wear them down and this is like a modern ‘The Little Match-Girl’ story.

This is charmingly written, although I didn’t care for the swearing, and the setting is so lovingly described that you can almost smell the fir trees. However, I found this incredibly miserable so it really wasn’t my kind of story, especially in the run-up to the Christmas season. Realistic, unhappy tales seem to be the fashion these days!

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.