Richard Ford returns with four deftly linked Christmas stories narrated by the iconic Frank Bascombe.

Now 68, Frank resides again in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam and has thrived - seemingly but not utterly - amidst the devastations of Hurricane Sandy. The desolations of Sandy, which left countless lives unmoored, are the perfect backdrop for Ford - and Bascombe.

With a flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence, these stories range over the full complement of universal subjects: ageing, race, loss, faith, marriage, the real estate debacle - the tumult of the world we live in.