Finding translated full-length Christmas books and novels is genuinely challenging, but we did our best to bring you some of the finest stories from other cultures for part III of our Holiday Season Reading.

This list leans heavily on ‘The Very Christmas’ anthology series, and for good reason: it is an excellent backbone for a global Christmas shelf, since every volume gathers multiple voices from one culture rather than a single story. It’s the perfect place to start.

This selection of translated Christmas books in English reveals two things: how much English-speaking culture borrowed from other countries, and, even when cultures are completely different, how kindness and festive spirit transcend borders.

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Classics

The Legend of the Christmas Rose by Selma Lagerlöf 

A dramatic and beautiful legend about the birth of Christ and a forest family, The Legend of the Christmas Rose by Selma Lagerlöf is a luminous Swedish Christmas tale that reads like a winter fairy story wrapped around the Nativity. Deep in the forest, an outlaw family is given a glimpse of a miraculous transformation: for one night, the wilderness bursts into colour and blossom as Christ’s presence touches the earth, turning their harsh, hidden world into a living vision of paradise. Lagerlöf’s prose (in translation) combines Scandinavian folklore, Christian symbolism and the stark beauty of Nordic landscapes, so the legend feels both spiritual and earthy – full of danger, wonder and the ache of longing for grace. It is a gorgeous choice for Christmas reading that leans more towards timeless, contemplative storytelling than cosy domestic scenes, and it brings a distinctly Swedish voice into any global festive book list. It is also in the public domain.

The Night of Christmas Eve by Nikolai Gogol

The Night of Christmas Eve (also published as The Night Before Christmas) is a delightfully eccentric plunge into Ukrainian village life on the night before Christmas, where devils steal the moon, a blacksmith flies to St Petersburg on a broomstick, and love, vanity and folklore collide in gloriously comic chaos. Written in 1832 and set in the Cossack villages of Dikanka, it brims with Gogol’s signature mix of earthy humour, supernatural mischief and affectionate satire, offering a Christmas story that feels wonderfully alive, strange and utterly different from Western yuletide tradition. The original Russian text and classic English translations are in the public domain (click here to listen on YouTube), making it easy to find free online or in curated anthologies such as ‘A Very Russian Christmas’ (listed later on). It is a delightful choice if you want your festive reading to come with devils, snowdrifts and a distinctly Slavic sense of magic.

The Tale of the Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas

The Tale of the Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas is the charming French retelling that sits between E.T.A. Hoffmann’s darker, dreamier original German novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) and the beloved Tchaikovsky ballet we know today. Dumas streamlined and softened Hoffmann’s fantasy, trimming some of the Romantic strangeness while keeping the magic: young Marie (or Clara, depending on the version) still receives the nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve, still witnesses the battle against the Mouse King, and still journeys to the Kingdom of Sweets – but with a lighter, more accessible touch that made the story irresistible to French audiences and, later, to Tchaikovsky himself. This French offers a lovely middle path between cosy Christmas fairy tale and full‑blown German Romanticism, with all the sparkle, toy soldiers and sugar‑plum wonder intact. Both The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and The Tale of the Nutcracker are in the public domain (you can listen to the latter on YouTube here).

Africa

Nomkhubulwane, African Mother Christmas by Gcina Mhlophe.

South African storyteller Gcina Mhlophe’s Nomkhubulwane, African Mother Christmas introduces a magical figure who blends the Christmas gift‑giver with Nomkhubulwane – the Zulu goddess of rain, fertility and growth – to create a uniquely African festive myth. The story follows children and community as they encounter this African Mother Christmas, whose presence is tied to care for the land, respect for elders and the joy of giving, rather than just receiving presents. Published by New Africa Books in South Africa, this title has limited international availability and may require ordering through specialist importers or South African retailers. The effort is worthwhile as it is one of the few children’s Christmas books that genuinely weaves indigenous African belief, local language and South African settings into the holiday season. However, if you can’t get the book, you can listen to the story of African Mother Christmas in the voice of Gcina Mhlophe on YouTube.

Anthologies

A Very Mexican Christmas: The Greatest Holiday Stories of All Times

A Very Mexican Christmas plunges into the festive season with posadas, piñatas and streets alive with music and candlelight. It showcases an impressive line‑up of Mexican and Mexican‑diaspora voices, from Carlos Fuentes and Laura Esquivel to Amparo Dávila, Sandra Cisneros, Fabio Morábito and Carmen Boullosa, alongside earlier writers such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Amado Nervo and Ignacio Manuel Altamirano. The stories weave Christmas together with everyday Mexican life – faith, family, humour and social tension all sharing the same table. You’ll meet characters shaped as much by local history and regional traditions as by the Nativity story, which makes this volume a rich way to explore how Latin American writers reimagine the season far from the usual Christmas snowy landscape.

A Very Brazilian Christmas: The Greatest Brazilian Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very Brazilian Christmas swaps snow for sun, moving between cities and smaller communities, mixing Catholic imagery with Afro‑Brazilian and Indigenous influences, and showing how Christmas looks in a country where December falls at the height of summer. It spotlights Brazilian authors, including the great Machado de Assis, Mário de Andrade, Clarice Lispector, Graciliano Ramos, and Lygia Fagundes Telles, translated into English. The stories feature festas, churches filled for Missa do Galo and streets alive with music, making this anthology an excellent way to freshen up a seasonal reading list with vibrant settings, sharp social observation and celebrations that spill out into the street.

A Very Indian Christmas: The Greatest Indian Holiday Stories of All Time

Edited by Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle, A Very Indian Christmas gathers holiday stories, essays and reflections from across India and its diaspora, where Christmas is often a minority festival set within a largely Hindu, Muslim or mixed‑faith context. The pieces highlight midnight Mass in crowded cities, small‑town church communities, and households where Christmas coexists with other religious calendars. It is a fascinating volume for exploring how Christmas adapts – and thrives – in plural, multilingual societies, adding a genuinely global note to any festive reading guide.

A Very Italian Christmas: The Greatest Italian Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very Italian Christmas serves up seasonal stories with plenty of atmosphere – narrow streets strung with lights, bustling markets, family tables loaded with food. The pieces span different regions and periods, highlighting how Italian writers link Christmas with local folklore, class conflict and complicated family expectations. It stretches from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century, with stories by authors such as Dino Buzzati, Natalia Ginzburg and other modern Italian stylists. Unlike its Russian counterpart below, this anthology is a charming choice when there is a desire for Christmas reading that combines warmth, social observation and a strong sense of place.

A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very French Christmas brings together classic and modern holiday tales from France – elegant, witty and sometimes quietly melancholy. It gathers festive tales by some of France’s most beloved writers, including Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Anatole France and Irène Némirovsky, alongside contemporary authors such as Dominique Fabre and Jean‑Philippe Blondel. Paris streets, provincial villages, monks, soldiers and wandering children all appear here, so Christmas comes flavoured with French wit, understated emotion and a keen eye for social nuance rather than simple feel-good cheer. This is a strong pick when there is a wish to add classic European literary sparkle to seasonal reading, when the mood calls for something more nuanced than pure seasonal schmaltz.

A Very Scandinavian Christmas: The Greatest Nordic Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very Scandinavian Christmas gathers stories from across the Nordic region, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland‑Swedish, blending chilly landscapes with interiors filled with candles, coffee and complicated family ties.  You’ll find both classic figures – such as Hans Christian Andersen and Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf in some editions of the series – and more recent Nordic writers, balancing folklore‑inflected pieces with quieter realist scenes. The tone ranges from gently humorous to quietly uncanny, reflecting a region where the long dark winter makes light – literal and emotional – feel especially precious. Candlelit interiors, snow, long winter nights and complex family relationships create a mood that mixes hygge with emotional depth, making this anthology a natural fit for readers curious about how Scandinavia narrates its darkest season.

A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very Russian Christmas offers a wintry mix of snow, samovars and soul‑searching. The anthology pairs well‑known Russian masters with lesser-known voices to show how Christmas in Russian literature moves between village folklore, Orthodox ritual and urban hardship. It’s a compact but rich selection of Russian authors, including Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Teffi, Vladimir Korolenko, Klaudia Lukashevich and Mikhail Zoshchenko. Stories range from fable‑like moral tales and portraits of poverty to madcap Soviet‑era vignettes about Christmas trees and Christmas thieves, many appearing in English for the first time. If you wish for something atmospheric, reflective and a little haunting during the holiday, this anthology is a distinctly Russian take on the season: snow‑laden, soulful, sometimes bleak, yet threaded with humour and compassion, with moments of dark irony alongside glimmers of grace.

A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time

A Very German Christmas brings together tales steeped in forests, markets and candlelit homes. German authors have long used Christmas to explore morality, tradition and the tension between duty and desire, and that thread runs through this collection. It is a great option when the mood is leaning towards cosy yet thoughtful stories – the kind that sit comfortably beside gingerbread, mulled wine and a tree lit with real or imagined candles.

Bonus Title

Ming’s Christmas Wishes by Susan L. Gong, ill. Masahiro Tateishi

Although not a translated work, Ming’s Christmas Wishes glows with a gentle, nostalgic kind of magic that lingers well after the last page. Set in 1930s California, it follows Ming, a Chinese American girl who longs for a Christmas tree and a sense of belonging in a world where she is endlessly asked to choose between her family’s traditions and the glittering American holiday she sees around her. It earns its place on this list because, even though it was originally written in English, the heart of the story is that feeling of standing between cultures and watching Christmas from the margins, then slowly finding a way to weave it into one’s own heritage. The detailed illustrations, the historical context and the emotionally layered relationship between Ming and her parents give the book a depth that speaks just as strongly to adults as to children, making it a beautiful choice for shared reading or quiet, reflective holiday browsing.

Wrapping Up

Part III of Holiday Season Reading ends here, with translated Christmas books from around the world that reach beyond the usual Anglophone Christmas shelf. Those stories will not only open your mind, but also widen your heart.

The next post turns from books you settle into to stories you can take at a glance: free online Christmas short fiction, all readable in under 15 minutes. See you there.