Five Leaves Holiday Gift Guide 2025

Non-Fiction

Resistance, edited by Steve McQueen (Monument, £25.00)

This book is stunning. For years, I didn’t quite understand why people would buy photograph books, but the collected images here are so arresting, I found myself sitting behind the till with a copy to look through whenever there was a lull in the shop. Resistance takes you through 100 years of British protest, from suffragists to Greenham Common up to the march against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. There are vast crowd shots and intimate portraits, tree huggers and gay kissers, police violence captured in a still. This is a beautiful and powerful collection of the varied ways we have fought as a nation and would make an excellent gift for anyone who loves art, history, politics or needs some hope in the current climate.

–Sarah

Women in Struggle: episodes from East Midlands history  Ed. Chris Wrigley (£8)

Notts and Derby Labour History Society has brought out Women in Struggle. No ISBN, so not on our webshop but available to purchase over the counter, by phone or email. Essays… from forgotten episodes like the strikes of the Nottingham Female Cigar Makers Union – bet you’d never heard of them – to the more recent struggle of East Midlands women in support of the miners’ strike. This latter includes material never published before about sexist behaviour by the police towards the women of the strike.

–Ross

Everyday Jews, by Keith Kahn-Harris (Icon, £10.99)

Kahn-Harris, author of the Five Leaves’ title What Does a Jew Look Like?, and academic books on heavy metal, says that if someone came down from Mars they would think the most important ritual of observant Jews was the “supper quiz” at their synagogue. He wants Jews to get off the front pages and get on with the mundane if not boring life of being Jewish. Five Leaves organised an event on the book at the Liberal synagogue and it seemed appropriate that the other synagogue had a bus trip to Hull that day. At the London launch there was mention of a museum of crap Judaica and the worst kosher snacks he could find were passed round. Beneath the drollery, Kahn-Harris has a serious message about the role of Jews in the UK, wishing they could or would go back to being and be seen as being, well, everyday.

–Ross

Slugs: a manifesto by Abi Palmer (Makina, £14)

This is one of the strangest and most beautiful books I’ve read. I was very excited for this release last year, and have returned to the book and reread it again several times. I wanted to highlight it in this newsletter because there’s currently an exhibition on at the brilliant Site Gallery in Sheffield, inspired by this particular work. Abi Palmer is a disabled artist and writer and this work asks us to consider loving bodies deemed unloveable. To move slowly and luxuriate in our time and connection with the world. To embrace our slimy natures! It is poetic and defiant.

–Sarah

Billy Bragg – A People’s History by Billy Bragg & Richard Houghton, (Spenwood, £35)

If you can resist buying this for yourself, you may want to give it as a gift in a heavy duty stocking! It’s big, weighty and you could lose yourself in it and not reappear until spring. Fans and fellow artists, including the likes of Phil Jupitus and Chris Packham, combine to tell the definitive story of the Bard of Barking, with plenty of contributions from the man himself and an abundance of nostalgic photos and memorabilia. From the early days in Riff-Raff to today, via ‘A New England’ and ‘Levi Stubbs Tears’, a stellar career of four decades-plus is comprehensively and very enjoyably covered.

–Carl

Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons (Running Press, £12.99)

Do you know someone who’s dying to hex the patriarchy? Then this is just the book they need in their stocking this year. This beautiful small format book gives an overview on how different marginalized groups have used modern witchcraft to effect political change, and to promote healing and solidarity within their groups. It mixes quick bite history lessons with practical exercises in modern magical techniques including meditations, a self-initiation ceremony and sigil-making. Oh, and the book is lavishly illustrated in black, white and red with the inspiring art of Hanna Barczyk, which alone is worth the price.

–Kate

The Craftivist Collective Handbook by Sarah Corbett (Unbound, £22)

Sarah Corbett released How to Be a Craftivist a few years ago, emphasising the power of slow protest and offering ways to counter burnout in times of political strife. That message only feels more vital now, sadly. This handbook takes the theory from her first book and gives you 20 projects to do to help you reconnect with yourself and your politics through craft that is accessible regardless of prior experience. From small solo projects to public displays, collaborative pieces to protest gifts, the projects are varied and accompanied by further thoughts, tips and even craftivist playlists!

–Sarah

Crafting a Better World by Diana Weymar (Harper Collins, £18.99)

From the creator of the Tiny Pricks Project- which created a material record of Trump’s presidency and of the movement against it by stitching his own (vile) words into textiles- this pocket sized book is a collection of interviews, illustrations, records of exhibitions and also projects you can do at home as acts of material resistance. With contributions from 25 artists and activists, this little book can give you a physical project to channel your rage into as well as offering solidarity and hope through the work of others.

–Sarah

Looking After Your Books by Francesca Gilligan (Bodlean, £16.99)

Lots of our customers collect books (and keep us in a job), some are Collectors (with a capital C) and some work with Collections. Francesca Gilligan, who fits all three categories, manages successfully to make this book relevant to all three types.
She’s not precious about it all, noting the various ways those who collect for fun might develop a collection of Agatha Christie books. She writes about how we look after books – there are excellent tips on how to deal with wet books –  and where to find books to collect. She describes the second hand and antiquarian market and the history of collecting. The book ends with how to get rid of books. I guess we all have that problem. However, if you happen do have a first edition of The Great Gatsby in good condition I’ll take it off your hands for a tenner. Twenty if it has a jacket. And then resell it for £7-£9000 or, jacketed, a hundred grand. Such is the nonsense end of collecting. Appropriately, Looking After Books is a neat, sewn hardback with nice endpapers. It’s going in my collection of books about books.

– Ross

Inklings series (404 Ink, £7.50)

Whether you do jolabokaflod, are looking for a small secret santa gift, or the perfect stocking filler, I don’t think you can go wrong with one of the brilliant 404 Inklings series: palm-sized books on niche topics. I have relied heavily on their broad selection of excellently written books for all of the above, and have never had a disappointed gift receiver! My personal favourites are:
We’re Falling Through Space: Doctor Who and Celebrating the Mundane, by J. David Reed
BFFs: The Radical Potential of Female Friendship, by Anahit Behrooz
The Appendix: Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture, by Liam Konemann
The titles make the topics pretty clear! But each is also written with such clear passion as well as careful research and thought, reading them is a joy.

–Sarah

Boustany by Sami Tamimi (Ebury Press, £30)

Invariably, whenever a new Ottolenghi cookbook comes out, members of my family buy it for each other and we’re always delighted. However, this year I’m even more excited than usual for us to swap new copies of Sami Tamimi’s first solo book, Boustany. Tamimi, the Ottolenghi co-founder and co-author of Falastin, Jerusalem, and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook has long championed Palestinian food and culture and this is dedicated to celebrating dishes from his home country through vegetables. Sure to be packed with flavour to please all dietary preferences, this is a gift that keeps giving if you get invited round to dinner by whoever you gift it to!

–Sarah

Still Waters & Wild Waves, by Angela Harding (Little Brown, £25.00)

Harding is a big favourite with our customers: cards, calendars, books of the season and there’s this (admittedly 2024) book of prints, personal notes and early sketches of seascapes, rivers, and the animals and fish that live in them. Very nice.

–Ross

Paula Rego: visions of English literature by Marco Livingstone, Marina Warner, Rosanna McLaughlin (Hayward Gallery, £25.00)

Though I never met the late Paula Rego, a friend of mine and publishing colleague Tony Rudolf, was her male model (and partner) for many years. In the summer at the Ben Uri Gallery there was an exhibition of sketches, paintings and prints that he had been given over the years.  Many included images of Tony which looked nothing like Tony, but someone had to sit or stand in an awkward position as Paula Rego drew her, sometimes disturbing, paintings. I like her work in exhibitions, but am not sure I would like many on my walls at home. But I might just accidentally buy this book of her work on Jane Eyre, Peter Pan and Nursery Rhymes in general. Of course many nursery rhymes are not always cheery little numbers, and in Rego’s hands they can be pretty grotesque. The three subjects are accompanied by illuminating essays. Rego’s works, as Rosanna McLaughlin says, “capture the violence and vulnerability that are tightly bound to the concept of innocence. In doing so they express something of of what it is to be a girl, a woman forever trapped in the battle between the two.”

–Ross

Fiction & Poetry

Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined, eds Anna Milton and Rory Waterman (Five Leaves, £12.99)

If you’re like me and you love nothing better on a cold winter night than to curl up by the fire with a book of weird tales, this one won’t disappoint. The book was born out of the Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project which recorded and mapped stories from across the county. Then fourteen authors from the county dove into this trove to come up with modern versions of the tales, in a mixture or poetry and prose. Some are relatively straight-forward line the poem about the rude behaviour of the famous Lincoln Imp, while others weave several stories across time into one new tale. A perfect, and unusual gift for someone who appreciates a good yarn.

– Kate

Capitalists Must Starve by Park Seolyeon, translated by Anton Hur (Tilted Axis, £14.99)

New from one of my favourite indie publishers – Tilted Axis Press – and a timely sentiment for the Christmas Carol season (muppet version only!). This is a novelisation of the life of real activist Kang Juryong, a Korean rubber factory worker who became a revolutionary. I learned a huge amount about the Korean independence movement and industrial revolution of the early 20th Century, while being completely invested in the fully fleshed out characters of the story.

– Sarah

The Poems: Forty Years of The North, edited by Ann and Peter Samson (Smith/Doorstop, £10)*

The North is one of the most reliable poetry magazines, edited by that Nottinghamshire exile Peter Samson and his wife Ann. Forty years is a long time to be running any poetry magazine, but they’ve done it. This collection includes poems by those you might expect, Armitage, McMillan father and son, Helen Mort, Liz Berry, Hannah Lowe… and people from other cultures including Eavan Boland and the late Gboyega Odubanjo whose work has also graced the magazine.

– Ross
*not available on our website at time of posting, email or phone to order

Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights eds  Lucy Evans, Tanya Kirk (British Library, £9.99)

I just wouldn’t be yuletide without me bullying my partner into reading me spooky stories while I keep us topped up on hot mulled beverages. This generally means an gift of one of the fabulous collections from the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series. A particular yuletide favourite is Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights, with a mix of well know early 20th century horror authors and some lesser known gems. Also in the series with a holiday theme are Chill Tidings and Haunters at the Hearth.

– Kate

Kids

Song of the Golden Hare by Jackie Morris (Graffeg, £9.99)

One of the most beautiful books I’ve seen this year- both the illustrations and the prose are lush and gorgeous. Raising Hare meets Watership Down (without the lifelong trauma), this tells of a special family who care for orphaned leverets and know the secret song of the hares. They race against hunters (human and non-human) as they follow the old queen of the hares as she journeys to the sea.

– Sarah

Firefly by Robert Macfarlane & Luke Adam Hawker (Magic Cat, £14.99)

This is sort-of a kids book, but honestly something I’d give to an adult as well. It’s a simple and poetic story about finding light in dark times. Hawker’s stunning etchings pair beautifully with Macfarlane’s emotionally evocative words, both filled with the beauty of nature.  It’s bound in blue cloth, stamped in shining copper making for a truly special-feeling edition.

– Kate

Winnie-the-Pooh: Winter In The Wood by Jane Riordan & Mark Burgess, (Harper Collins, £16.99)

Jane Riordan sympathetically takes the reins of A.A.Milne’s cosy world in Winnie the Pooh: Winter in the Wood. A charming, gentle return to the Hundred Acre Wood, capturing the warmth and whimsy of the original stories, creating a cozy winter tale filled with friendship, curiosity, and small adventures. The illustrations of Mark Burgess (in the style of E.H.Shepard) pair perfectly with the story’s calm, snowy atmosphere. It’s a delightful read for young children and a nostalgic treat for adults who love Pooh. Sweet, comforting, and full of heart, this book makes an excellent seasonal treat.

– Carl

Counting Winter by Nancy White Carlstrom, illustrated by Claudia McGehee (Eerdman’s, £14.99)

Counting Winter – you can guess – is a counting book with nature scenes you will see in winter. “One red fox walks across the white snow…”, “Two ravens croak and gurgle…” You get the picture. It’s a North American book, and some of the animals might seem a bit unfamiliar to your average five year old. But they will be just as excited by the illustrations of musk oxen as owls because the illustrations are superb. All I need are some five year old relatives and we’re good to go on this one.

– Ross

Press Here by Hervé Tullett (Chronicle, £6.99)

This board book is one of my favourite books ever. As you follow the instructions, turn the page and see what happens. Start by pressing the yellow button on the cover, then push more buttons, shake and tilt the book, and be surprised as the buttons multiply, move and change colour. I’ve read it over and over to myself, sadly it wasn’t published until my youngest child turned 24. If I ever have grandchildren this will be my first gift to them. And it will fit nicely into a stocking.

– Pippa

The Girl at the Front of the Class by Helen Cooper (Hodder, £12.99 HB, £7.99 PB)

I’ve read a few children’s books on the child refugee experience (which have occasionally resulted in customers coming into the shop to find a tearful bookseller) but this one is a different perspective. A new girl comes to the school but she seems sad all of time and doesn’t want to talk or engage with the other students. Another student wants to be her friend so he talks to the adults and tries lots of different ways to do it. Eventually she’s able to make friends with him and play with the other children. The book is hopeful and practical, and includes a list in the back of ways to befriend a refugee child, though the tips could apply to any child who’s become withdrawn because of difficult circumstances.

– Kate