Niall Williams and Nick Harkaway on Christmas miracles and special fathers

Irish writer Niall Williams's latest novel Time of the Child celebrates the miracles of everyday life. Also, meet Nick Harkaway the son of David Cornwall AKA John le Carre, who is continuing his father's legacy in fictional espionage with Karla's Choice. 

Irish writer Niall Williams is the the author of the bestselling novels This is Happiness and the History of Rain and his latest is already a bestseller too and returns to his favourite fictional setting, the parish of Faha. Time of the Child is a feel-good book in which an abandoned baby is found in the run up to Christmas 1962.

Nick Harkaway is the son of the famous British author John Le Carré (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) but he's also an author in his own right. In Karla's Choice he's taken on the task of continuing his father's iconic character, George Smiley who's a spy at the fictional M16-like agency known as the Circus. In this book, Nick's created an origin story for Smiley's great enemy. He shares fond memories of his father and admits to listening to his father's audiobooks at university.

To end the year, Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange also share their favourite reads of the year.