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The Oak Elf and the Holly King
(The Five Father Christmases - Part One)
This is Christmas story, and adventure which shows how our Father Christmas / Santa Claus evolved from a mixture of very ancient and relatively modern folklore.
Lucy is a girl with a question, a problem and a plan. It is Christmas Eve, and she is fed up with seeing fake Father Christmases everywhere, and is determined to find out who the real one is. She has a plan to do this, but it does not go as she had expected.
Firstly, some items related with Christmas simply disappear without trace, including the writing on her brother's letter to Santa. Then a strange elf Oakleaf (the Oak Elf of the title) appears in her house. When she asks him who the Real Father Christmas is he answers with a puzzling riddle, and says that he will take her to meet him, but that to do so they must go through a door in time.
He tells Lucy that she is very important, and Lucy is amazed to find out that she actually has to play a role in changing history.
Lucy goes with Oakleaf to five different times in history, each featuring a different predecessor of Father Christmas and each associated with different Christmas traditions. In each of these she will face new dangers and new discoveries. By the end of her journey she will have put the pieces together to answer her big question, and will have set in motion some important changes in history.
In this first book, Lucy is transported to Ancient Britain where she meets the first version of Father Christmas, the Holly King of Celtic lore, as well as elves (human-sized guardians of nature), such as the beautiful Hawthorn and the strong, stern Yew, and other mythical beings including the Fungus Gnomes, elemental sprites and evil Spriggarts.
