Eli Bendersky's website This is a short and sweet fable whose main character is Caleb, an old shepherd living in an imaginary country circa early 19th century. Caleb's usually calm and placid shepherd life is upturned a few days before Chirstmas by unexpected guests in the cottage where he spends the winter, and the plot tells about the couple of eventful weeks that follow.
The book truly is a fairy tale - it can be easily read and enjoyed by a very young child, who will perhaps only miss a few "serious" issues the author raises, about love, friendship and dealing with one's own past. I'm not usually very fond of reading fairy tales these days, but I did like this one, mainly because it's devoid of all things magical and unreal, and is, on the contrary, quite realistic. Though the author obviously attempts to raise a few important human concerns for the reader to ponder over, these never get too deep and the book can be easily devoured in a few hours, as the fast-moving plot makes if very readable.