Hogfather

Hogfather is the twentieth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first released in 1996 and shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award the following year. In this world the winter festival is Hogswatch, the Hogfather is the figure who grants children's wishes, and his orderly absence from the sleigh on the central night is a threat to the calendar itself.

With the Hogfather gone, Death fills in for him, which gives Pratchett room to test what the ritual is actually for: the belief of children is what keeps the sun coming up, and an auditor from outside the world is measuring the results. Susan Sto Helit, Death's granddaughter, works the case in practical terms, dealing with an assassin, a crowd of odd creatures and a department store Hogfather.

The book is one of the more openly argued of the Discworld novels, giving its time to the question of why anyone would keep a festival that is plainly invented. It came 137th in the BBC's Big Read survey of the most loved British books, one of fifteen Pratchett titles in the top 200.