Short and Seasonal!

 

With all the bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to get burned out.  Reading can give one a chance to rest and recharge before tackling that “to do” list.  Here are some short books with seasonal themes that just might hit the spot:

Christmas Letters by Lee Smith is a novella built around one of my favorite Christmas traditions, the Christmas letter.  Those once a year, newsy letters that help people keep in touch with those far away. Smith’s novella tracks the lives of three generations of women through their correspondence, sharing joys, sorrows, fears, and recipes.  The letters begin in 1944 when Birdie writes home to West Virginia about her new life in North Carolina.  Readers follow her through the years until the torch is passed to her daughter and then granddaughter.  It’s a tale beautifully told.

Another Appalachian treat is Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb.  Nora who has some psychic gifts is called to a home by its new residents who are disturbed some strange events, leading them to wonder if the house is haunted.  Meanwhile, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood is called upon to arrest an elderly man who lives up in a hollow, an unpleasant task made more unpleasant by a threatened storm.  Having two of McCrumb’s most popular characters appear in their own tales makes for a very festive treat.

If you fancy very old-fashioned tales, then look no farther than The Quiet Little Woman:  A Christmas Story by Louisa May Alcott, which is actually a collection of three stories written by Alcott in the 1870s for three little girls who were fans of her writing.  In the title story, Patty is a quiet, shy, industrious orphan girl who longs to be chosen by a family as the other girls and boys have been.  “Tilly’s Christmas” and “Rosa’s Tale” round out the collection.

Connie Willis is known for her science fiction and fantasy stories with a focus on the human aspect rather than technology. In Take a Look at the Five and Ten, a young woman is bracing herself for another boring holiday with her extended (very extended) family.  This is sure to include Grandma Elving, who only seems to talk about working at a dime store in the 1950s in excruciating detail over and over and over, not to mention pretty, popular, and self-centered Sloane who will be showing off her latest trophy boyfriend, Lassiter.  As it turns out, Lassiter is very interested in Grandma Elving’s story. 

On the other hand, if it’s a dark thriller you fancy, try The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson. As it opens, our narrator is cleaning her apartment when she comes across a diary written by an American college student named Ashley.  Ashley is going to spend time at the country estate of her British friend Emma, and is wondering if her story is going to be a romance or a murder mystery.

Of course, there are a number of authors who put out short holiday books for the enjoyment of their readers.  Check out books by authors such as Richard Paul Evans, Anne Perry, Donna VanLiere, or check out some of our short story collections!

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

There’s a long tradition of mystery stories set at Christmas; in addition to Christmas mysteries, the British also have a tradition of ghost stories set at that festive time, and Peter Swanson quotes from arguably the most famous of these stories just before the start of this novella.  The story opens with a woman preparing to spend her usual solitary Christmas with a bit of housecleaning. She finds an old familiar diary and soon finds herself immersed in a Christmas time some thirty years earlier when she was a student.

Californian Ashley Smith is studying art in London and planning on spending Christmas alone when she is asked to be a guest at a country house in the Cotswolds. Fellow student Emma Chapman issued the invitation, knowing that Ashley wouldn’t be returning to America for the holidays.  It’s something out of a fairy tale, a wonderful English village with the manor house, Emma’s handsome brother Adam, and evenings by the fireplace.  But Ashley confides to her diary that she’s a little uneasy. Maybe instead of a fairy tale, she’s in a dark gothic tale.  After all, a girl was found murdered nearby just a few months earlier and the killer is still at large—and Emma’s brother Adam is considered a suspect.

This is a shivery tale, told from the points of view of a somewhat naïve student and then from a mature woman.  Some of the surprises come early, but there’s a twist at the end that made it memorable for me.  If you like Christmas mysteries, this is a good choice: the English setting, the dark undercurrents, and the secrets. At just over 90 pages, it makes for a relatively quick read, which is what I’m looking for at this very busy time of year.  Swanson is the winner of numerous mystery awards, and from this book I would say there are well deserved.