As a priest, married to a vicar, with four school-age children, Jane Maycock is all too familiar with the struggle not to be engulfed by busyness in the run-up to Christmas. As a result, the reflections she has written for this lovely book are engagingly infused with real-life happenings, even as they invite us to stop and consider what Advent really means. The author draws on the insights of the biblical authors, poets such as Robert Southwell, and contemporary hymn writers including Timothy Dudley-Smith, to present a series of windows through which we can explore the main ideas surrounding the season. We are taken through the themes of wilderness and of God's choice, and examine the place of conflict and confrontation in Christian faith. We look more deeply at the familiar nativity scene, and at the idea of the second coming. Underpinning Windows on a Hidden World is the conviction that we are bound up in an intimate relationship with a God of love. And as we take a little time out - from 1 to 25 December - to explore the Advent landscape in these daily readings, we will find much encouragement to respond to the wonder of God's tender nearness with hope and joy.