With chocolate beetroot cake. It is not as strange as it sounds – think carrot cake, but with beetroot. Deliciously dark and satisfyingly rich, with the added bonus of being one of your five a day. If Nigella says it’s ok, then it almost certainly is.
If you live in Burma, you can skip this one, but if you’re one of the many who are heading into a long old winter, hot yoga just might be your salvation. Not just warm, but hot...really hot. Bend and stretch away the present-buying panic, sweat out the festive fear and relax into a steamy state of calm. Leave with you bones thawed and your zen restored.
This is one of those books that burrows into your soul and that stays in your thoughts for weeks after you’ve finished it. It is the story of an Australian prisoner of war in World War II, working as a doctor on the Burma Railway under the Japanese. It is devastating and beautiful, and demonstrates how good and bad, courage and pettiness, kindness and evil swirl and coexist in the context of war. Keep your tissues to hand.

Have a look at our Christmas Edit...






