Originally published in hardcover as two separate works entitled A Christmas Promise and A Christmas Odyssey by Ballantine Books in 2009 and 2010.

A Christmas promise: Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London's East End, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps encounters Minnie Maude Mudway, who is eight, alone, and determined to find her friend Charlie. Charlie is a donkey who belonged to Minnie Maude's Uncle Alf. The day before, someone murdered Uncle Alf and made off with his rag-and-bones cart and the beloved beast who pulled it. Minnie Maud means to rescue Charlie, and Grace decides to help. In the cart were not just the usual bits of worn silver and china but also a dazzling golden box. What its contents may have been no one can say, for it too has vanished.

A Christmas odyssey: Ten days before Christmas, wealthy James Wentworth feels not joy but grief. His reckless son, Lucien, has been lured into a deadly world of drugs and wild passion. Wentworth's only hope, he believes, is his old friend Henry Rathbone, who volunteers to search for the prodigal son. Rathbone knows nothing of the sensation-obsessed underworld where Lucien now dwells, but he acquires two unexpected companions who do.