AustLit

'That’s when they trapped us, those star-children. After that moment, we couldn’t say no to them; we could only offer them the shelter of our home, and let them do whatever on earth they wanted.

'Three strange, carefully wrapped infants appear on a Bethlehem rubbish heap—local girl Leah doesn't like their looks, but her little sister Shoshana insists on bringing them home.

'That night, in a stable across town, a woman goes into labour. Hers is a very special baby, announced by angels, its birthplace marked by a star. But her husband Yoseph looks into baby Emmanuel's eyes and wonders, is this really the Son of the Lord, or just of a simple carpenter?

'And then the visitors arrive.

'Margo Lanagan's Christmas novelette is a dance along the border between faith and fantasy. Which side will you fall down on?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.