Former actress Elfrida Phipps, 62, flees London for a cottage in the small English village of Dibton where she is befriended by the Blundell family.

Retired college professor and organist Oscar Blundell turns to Elfrida when an auto accident claims the lives of his wife, Gloria, and 12-year-old daughter, Francesca.  Grief-stricken Oscar leans on Elfrida who convinces him to return to his grandmother’s estate in Scotland where he retains half-ownership in the Estate House.  Since he has nowhere else to go and Gloria’s sons have put The Grange up for sale, Oscar agrees.

When her affair with a married man turns sour, Elfrida’s second cousin, Carrie Sutton, leaves Austria and returns to London.  There she finds her niece, Lucy, refusing to accompany her mother and male friend to Florida for two weeks. Grandmother, Dodie, also has plans to spend the holidays in Bournemouth with friends leaving the 14-year-old bereft of friends or family for winter break.

Called back to London by his company chairman to revive a defunct Scottish textile mill, Sam Howard, shows up at the Estate House during a blinding snow storm.  While trying to enter the building with a key from Oscar’s cousin and co-owner, Sam discovers an ailing Carrie who invites him to come in out of the cold.

In two short weeks, these five people from three generations begin to put their lives back together and find something to celebrate.

While most readers reacted favorable to this novel of hope and renewal, some reviewers found fault with Pilcher’s unrealistic time frame for Oscar’s grief process.  Gloria and Francesca have been dead for two months and Oscar and Elfrida are definitely a couple in every sense of the word.

Others found the players stereotypical:  the grieving widower, the neglected child, the broken-hearted  lover, the cold-blooded socialite and pleaded for multi-layered character development.

Most readers will find the plot predictable, but don’t let that keep you from enjoying the rich descriptions of domestic detail, exquisite depiction of Scotland in winter and that sure-to-please happy ending.

Discussion Questions follow:

1. Elfrida made many friends in the small village of Dibton, but the Blundells became her favorites.  Discuss what attracted Elfrida to each one in turn:  Oscar, Gloria, Francesca.

2.  Both Oscar and Elfrida have spent much of their professional lives in London, yet find Dibton a comfortable place to live.  What makes Elfrida comfortable? Oscar?  How did the tragic auto accident affect their comfort level?

3. Sam retains fond memories of Radley Hall, his boyhood home, and Oscar remembers Corrydale, his grandmother’s estate.  What memories do you carry with you of your childhood home or hometown?  Good or bad?

4. Taking into account Elfrida’s admission that, “She liked Oscar immensely; perhaps too much,” how would you characterize her relationship with Oscar before and after the tragic accident?

5. Elfrida declared that she had to set limitations and reservations so she would not be absorbed by or be beholden to the Blundells.  Discuss the above reference and explain what she is so afraid of.

6. Compare and contrast the two young girls (Lucy & Francesca) especially in  their reaction to the merging of the pagan festival surrounding Winter Solstice with the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth.

7. Why do you think Pilcher chose Winter Solstice as her book title?

8. How accurate is the author’s portrayal of the grief  process?  Some reviewers found it unrealistic that Oscar asked Elfrida to marry him just two months after the death of his wife and daughter.  Do you agree?

9. What part does fate play in Winter Solstice?  Did you find the plot believable?  Did Pilcher’s use of fate lend to or detract from the novel’s believability?

10. Discuss Pilcher’s use of setting to propel the action of the novel.  One reviewer felt that the setting assumed the position of an additional character in the book.  Agree/Disagree?

What other Rosamunde Pilcher novels have you read and enjoyed?

This reality show, created in August 2006 by brothers Jeffrey aka Duff and Willie Goldman, provides an inside-look at a Baltimore bakery, Charm City Cakes.

Curious about the world behind those incredibly amazing cakes, pick up this 300-page volume, Ace of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes.

This heavy, slightly cumbersome, 10 x 12-inch scrapbook introduces all of the people who work at CCC including the TV production crew.

Where else can you find the following information:

*Mary Alice met Duff when she  dropped her grandmother’s pearls down the sink,
*persistent Anna plays Scrabble like a grand champion,
*guitarist Geof composes his own songs
*Duff hired Mary Smith because of her sassiness and extra-fine piping skills,
*baker Adam Goldstein once sold produce to Duff,
*their cakes really do taste good, all 50 flavors,
*although edible, fondant is rarely eaten
* employees frequently wash their hands even if their actions are not part of the final show.

Not exactly a cook book, this tell-all volume does include some of the bakery’s more unusual techniques and tools that shape those fabulous cake creations.

What’s a scrap book without pictures: collages of cakes, childhood snaps, bakery diagrams, a cake centerfold, fan mail and much much more.  However, some reviewers complain that there are just too many photos (”overwhelming to the eye”)  and  many are just too small. (Especially the double fold-out spread of seven years of cakes!!)

First and foremost, this book is Duff’s story, his childhood, schooling, founding of CCC and how the reality show originated.  But CCC would not exist with out its creative staff so three pages are devoted to each person. The cast and crew profiles, penned by each individual, ring true in contrast to the stiffness of the network executives.

Here again, reviewers say it’s just too much detail:  “I don’t care to see childhood photos of all the CCC employees nor do I find it entertaining”.

“Unfortunately this book didn’t undergo the same editing process” as the weekly show – 22 minutes culled from 150 hours of video footage.  Granted this hefty coffee table book presents an overload of information, but don’t expect it to read like a novel.  It’s nonfiction, people!!

Ace of Cake junkies will appreciate the comprehensive episode guide on pages 273-297 along with the depiction of the burger, hot dog and fries cake concealed under the drab dust jacket. (Also featured on pp. 212-213 along with its creator, Katherine.)

Bottom Line:  if you enjoy the Food Network show, Ace of Cakes, you’ll find plenty to like in this tell-all volume.

Even a failed, three-way collaboration and later a manuscript’s rejection didn’t scare this journalist away from storytelling.

Over lunch, Dallas and two friends plotted, divided up and crafted characters for a book later abandoned when their day jobs got in the way.

Later the fledgling novelist resurrected and rewrote a post-college manuscript only to receive the dreaded rejection letter from her agent.

Hooked on fiction, Dallas persevered eventually producing Buster Midnight’s Cafe, an end-of-depression look at the hell-roaring days of coal mining in Butte, Montana.

Steeped in history from an early age, Dallas covered the Rocky Mountain region as a staff writer and the first female bureau chief for Business Week magazine.

Schooled  daily in Virginia’s past by her mother, Dallas and her siblings toured Washington’s Mount Vernon and Arlington House, residence of Robert E. Lee as children.

But a 1945 move to Denver opened up the west for a writer who never ventured  back east again.

Subjects ranging from copper mining in Butte, Montana, and polygamy in Utah, to the role of women in business and sexual harassment provided future background for Dallas’ fiction dominated by female characters.

The Chili Queen

Set in Nalgitas, New Mexico, in the 1860s, The Chili Queen follows the life of Addie French, a con artist turned madam.

Returning by train from Kansas City, Addie befriends a prim and proper lady traveling west as a mail-order bride.  But when Emma, the spinster, is jilted, she seeks refuge in Addie’s ‘boarding house’ and life at the brothel is never the same again.

This psychological thriller cum detective story takes the reader on horseback through the plains of New Mexico and Colorado as the con men/women try to out run the person they swindled.   Through Dallas’ words, one can feel the wide open spaces and sniff the sweet-smelling air of the old west.

Tallgrass

Just after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act forcing all of  California’s Japanese Americans into internment camps.

When Dallas’ pen hits paper, this relocation to Tall Grass (Amache) produces an  fearful atmosphere ripe with paranoia in Ellis Colorado,  a small town of sugar beet farmers.

From the viewpoint of Rennie Stroud, 13, the reader watches as the bigoted townspeople heap blame on the nearby Japanese when a crippled girl is found brutally murdered and raped.

Often compared to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Tall Grass highlights the struggle of the dirt-poor farmers in the sparsely populated southeast town of Granada.

Discussion questions can be found here.

The Diary of Mattie Spenser

In the post-civil war era, the stigma of being a spinster compels Mattie to accept an impromptu marriage proposal and accompany her new husband by wagon train to the western territories.

While Luke battles to shape the frontier into a homestead, the lone female endures hardship, frugality, betrayal, infant mortality and drought along with the constant threat of Indian attack.

In Mattie, Dallas gives us a woman of courage and faith in the treeless, inhospitable landscape of Eastern Colorado.

Don’t forget the Persian Pickle Club, another Sandra Dallas favorite.

A list of nonfiction titles can be found here.  Fictional titles here:

Now, four of the original dozen reconnect at the famed Peabody Hotel in Memphis for a somber purpose. They will cruise the mighty river again-this time on the Belle of Natchez – to honor the memory of Margaret ‘Baby’ Ballou and commit her ashes to the ages.

The Old Maid School Teacher

Ill-at-ease in the hotel’s elegant furnishings, Harriet Holding, considers leaving almost upon arrival.  Like the novel’s acclaimed author, Lee Smith, Harriet teaches community writing workshops for women.

Even though men have found her attractive over the years, Harriet has shied away from attachments and remains unmarried at 53.  A scholarship student at Mary Scott College, Harriet identified with the cafeteria help that she worked with rather than her  fellow classmates.

The Southern Belle

From outward appearances, Courtney Gray Ralston has the perfect life:  a handsome, successful husband, four beautiful children and status in her community.

But on closer examination,  we find that her silver-haired mate strays repeatedly forcing Courtney to find love with Gene, a 300-pound Elvis impersonator.  And when her florist lover issues an ultimatum -  divorce Hawk and marry me or else – Courtney’s world begins to spin out of its perfectly balanced orbit.

The Romance Novelist

Anna Todd enters the plot hidden under layers of makeup and clothes, topped off by her trademark black hat and enormous sunglasses.

One wonders if the romance writer is seeking anonymity from her adoring fans or is just hiding from memories of her failed marriage, still born child and 12-year liaison with Lou.

Even when Harriet asks, “Anna, Anna, whatever has happened to you?” few  details come to light; not even her real name.

The Artist

Last to arrive, Catherine Wilson, a direct, down-to-earth sculptor enters with her third husband, Russell, in tow.  Born to a life of privilege, Catherine remembers being more interested in her upcoming engagement party than the original raft trip.

Instilled with the idea that the whole point of college was marriage, Catherine was an indifferent student excelling only in art classes.

When her second husband, Steve, was killed in a robbery at the 7-Eleven, Catherine began sculpting large concrete women with mosaic dresses and hats to support her four children.

‘Baby’

The central figure, ‘Baby’, appears only in the other character’s memories since an auto accident claimed her life just before Christmas of the previous year.  Smith subtly plants doubt by recalling a failed suicide attempt during college.

Springing from a very wealthy Southern family, Margaret Ballou never played by the rules leaving her roommate Harriet to cover up her many indiscretions.   Less than studious, Baby’s main goal was to graduate with an engagement ring.

The driving force behind the original raft trip, Baby considered herself a poet.  As the story progresses,  Smith inserts examples of her work in between the prose of the novel.

The Last Girls, a mixture of  college experiences, interspersed with the grown-up world of marriage, infidelity, health crises and career moves, leaves the reader puzzled as to time and place.  One reviewer suggested that chapter headings would have cleared up some of the confusion.

A natural storyteller, Lee Smith, tells the story in the same convoluted way that Southerners do, “using intimate asides, gossipy digressions and personal observations,” just like everyday conversation.

Smith’s sense of humor shines through with the quirky fellow passengers and Catherine’s attorney husband.  A fellow drinker falls senseless from the adjoining bar stool without Russell ever shifting his attention from the Weather Channel.

There’s plenty to talk about:  thirty discussion questions can be found here.

Often termed sentimental, Berg draws an accurate picture of grief – “the doubts, the dailiness, the decisions, the daring to dream again”.

While some reviewers feel that Berg has a tendency to write scenes that are a little bit far fetched with predictable textbook characters, they still praise her eye for detail, simplicity, and beauty.

Two people, having read the same book, can come away with opposite opinions of its characters, plot and setting.  I suggest you decide for yourself by sampling one or more of Berg’s books listed below.  Happy reading!!

Durable Goods
(1993), 12-year-old Katie, struggles with the loss of her mother while  being dragged from town to town by her abusive father.

Discussion Questions here.

Talk Before Sleep
(1994),  a nurse caring for a good friend slowly dying with cancer.

Discussion Questions here.

Range of Motion
(1995), deals with the experiences of a comatose man

Discussion Questions here.

The Pull of the Moon
(1996),  Nan’s story, as she travels cross-country seeking to reinvent herself.

Joy School
(1997), a continuation of Katie’s story, as she tastes romance for the first time.

Discussion questions here:

What We Keep
(1998), a girl’s abandonment by her mother.

Discussion Questions here:

Until the Real Thing Comes Along
(1999),  a woman’s love for a gay man.

Discussion Questions here:

Open House
(2000),  after the departure of her husband and a spending spree at Tiffany’s, Sam  must  reconstruct a life for herself and11-year old son

Discussion questions here.

Never Change
(2001), a nurse treats a childhood acquaintance with an incurable illness.

True to Form
(2002), a revisit with Katie’s during the coming of age process.

Say When
(2003), the damaging effects of infidelity on the marriage of Ellen and Griffin written from the husband’s  point-of-view.

The Art of Mending
(2004), a family reunion forces a 50-something “quilt artist”  to face some long-standing secrets.

Discussion questions here.

The Year of Pleasures
(2005), a Boston widow fulfills her dying husband’s dream of starting a new life in the Midwest.

Discussion Questions here:

We Are All Welcome Here
(2006), together a polio victim and her 13-year-old daughter work miracles in the summer of 1964

Discussion Questions here.

The Handmaid and the Carpenter
(2006), inexperienced teenagers, Mary and Joseph, struggle to honor family tradition despite unusual circumstances.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue
(2007), three Irish Catholic sisters keep the home fires burning for their young men fighting in WWII.

Discussion Questions here.

Home Safe (2009), suffering from writer’s block,  a popular and prolific author struggles with her husband’s sudden death.

Discussion Questions here:

The Last Time I Saw You
(2010), former classmates reconnect with one another—and themselves—at their fortieth high school reunion.

Which is your favorite and why?

Book #1 in Nancy Turner’s trilogy introduces the reader to a young girl who matures into a strong independent woman while traveling by wagon train and settling in the Arizona Territory.

In the year 1881, calamities come in many forms:  unfortunate accidents, Indian attacks and sickness plague the travelers as well as the unscrupulous bandits and ruffians who meet them at every turn of the wagon’s wheels.

Because 17 year-old Sarah Prine is uneducated, nearly illiterate, her early diary entries are peppered with spelling and grammatical errors making a slow, often painful reading process.

But when she acquires a wagon load of books, her education takes off as does her writing ability.

The author’s use of first-person narrative draws you into the story laying open Sarah’s thoughts, pain, despair, and insecurities for all to experience first hand.

One reviewer commented, “I cared so much that I dreaded turning the pages for fear of the horrific fate that could befall any of the characters at any time”.

The reader cheers as Sarah overcomes the obstacles barring her way to love, marriage and establishing a family in the far flung, often lawless, western territories of 1881-1902 while always, always waiting for disaster to strike as it so often does.

Readers recommended Sarah’s Quilt, the continuing story of an extraordinary pioneer woman and her 3-year struggle with drought on the family ranch.

Book #3, The Star Garden, finds Sarah, at 43, with grown sons, and the center of a large, unruly family. Living in a house built by the man she refused to marry and courted by her neighbor, Sarah is not so sure she wants to be a wife again.

Discussion Questions for These Is My Words follow:

1. Suggest why an illiterate girl would find it so important to keep a diary of her Arizona trip and life afterward.

2. Explain, if you can, why the Lawrence family shunned Sarah after she saved the lives of daughters, Savannah, Alice and Ulyssa.

3. If you had to debate the issue of the pioneers fighting the Indians to save their own lives and the lives of their families, which side would you take and why?

4. Whenever Sarah measures up against her sister-in-law, Savannah, she always finds herself wanting. Agree? Disagree?

5. A genuine thirst for knowledge compels Sarah to learn and grow as an individual. Who helps her? What does she learn and from whom?

6.Talk about Sarah’s marriages. What makes her attractive to Jimmy Reed? Jack Elliot?

7.What ultimately brings Jack and Sarah together? Sarah’s transformation? Jack’s transformation?

8. Any idea why Jack refused to resign her army commission leaving Sarah and the children alone and vulnerable?

9. Does Sarah’s picture of the West challenge or confirm your ideas of life on the frontier? Think of the many losses, the hardships and how the settlers surmounted them. Are we, in modern times, as tenacious and courageous as Sarah and her contemporaries?

10. Although Sarah’s story is fictional (there is no actual diary according to the author), it is based on stories about the author’s great grandmother. Do you feel the story is realistic or highly romanticized? Is Sarah credible? If so, what makes her story convincing?

11. Would you read Sarah’s Quilt or The Star Garden? Why or Why not?

Unfortunately, I’ve read only five.  (Must have been living under a rock for the past 9 or 10 years.)

They are:

46   Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

An American epic concerning three generations of the Greek Stephanides family and their lives in Detroit. Calliope is a girl with no breasts and a forest of unwanted hair who finds that s/he is a hermaphrodite — raising questions about sexuality and gender.  (waste of time)

30 The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini (2003)

Afghanistan before the Russian invasion is the setting for a timeless story of betrayal and redemption. Amir, the quiet son of a wealthy businessman, lets down his friend Hassan, the son of a servant, at a crucial moment. Years later he returns to Kabul to make amends. (good read)

25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon (2003)

A runaway bestseller hailed as a successor to The Catcher in the Rye for its sensitive depiction of an autistic teenager. Christopher is 15, a maths genius with a terror of ordinary social situations, whose investigation of a dog’s death reveals truths about his parents. (strange, yet interesting)

10 The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown (2003)

A murder in the Louvre, and the clues are all hidden in the works of Leonardo. Some love it, some hate it,but you can’t deny that its mix of conspiracy, riddles and action dominated the decade. (not my favorite)

9  Atonement
by Ian McEwan (2001)

A foolish act of bravado and a simple act of conceit at a 1930s house party combine to spoil three lives. Can amends be made? You either love or hate the postmodern twist at the end, but you cannot deny the brilliance of the descriptive set-pieces. (freaked me out!)

If you’re interested in the entire list click here.

Which books have you read?  Let me know.

*Be sure to check out some of the comments from readers!!!

Strangers become friends, smiles grower wider and  warmer as all of God’s creatures prepare to celebrate once again the birth of the Christ Child in a Bethlehem stable.

There’s no better way to observe this most joyous season than by sharing a warm and wonderful book from one of the following authors:

Richard Paul Evans

The Christmas Box Collection: The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and The Letter

In The Christmas Box, we meet an elderly widow, MaryAnne Parkin.

Her advertisement for a live-in couple answers the prayers of a struggling young family crammed into a drafty one-bedroom apartment in the foothills of the snow-clad Wasatch mountain range.

The Evans gain as much or more than MaryAnne from their living arrangement and almost 4-year-old Jenna finds a grandmother in residence.

TimePiece, the prequel to The Christmas Box, chronicles five years in the life of David Parkin, through his marriage to MaryAnne and the birth of their daughter, Andrea.

The Letter finds the Parkins 20 years later as they struggle to cope with the tragic loss of their daughter and the slow deterioration of their once happy marriage.

Although Evans did not compose these three books as a trilogy, each book relates to the other two but does not have to be read in any certain order.
Some readers characterized the stories as syrupy while other lauded their refreshing innocence.

Fannie Flagg

A Redbird Christmas

Searching for a milder climate in which to live out his final days, Oswald T. Campbell (named for the soup) lands in a small town located somewhere near Elberta, Lillian and Mobile.

Maybe his life-long streak of bad luck has finally turned as Oswald settles in and interacts with the citizens of the fictional town of Lost River, Alabama. Jack, the red bird residing at the neighborhood grocery, and Patsy, the young crippled child, figure prominently in this character’s new chance on life.

Discussion questions can be found here.

Kate Jacobs

Knit the Season

In this feel-good holiday novel, Jacobs reconnects the reader with the characters from her two previous novels in the hustle and bustle of New York at Christmas time.

To fully appreciate this yuletide offering, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two should be read first for the back story and character development.

As a gift to faithful readers, knitting patterns and some delicious recipes have been added by the author.

But don’t forget two of my timeless favorites:

Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol

Discussion questions for A Christmas Carol can be found here.

O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)

The Gift of the Magi

Click here for reflection questions for Gift of the Magi.

In between all of these extravagant holiday preparations, she still  finds time to pen a yearly Christmas novel ever since the early 1990s.

This post will highlight five of Macomber’s holiday gems:

The Christmas Basket (2002)

This small, 240-page novel features an exaggerated, laughable version of  the historic Hatfield and McCoy feud.

When 28-year-old, Noelle, could avoid her hometown of Rose, Oregon, no longer she hopped a plane in Dallas.   Wouldn’t you know it, she just happened to encounter Thom, the high school sweetheart that jilted her 10 years ago, on the same flight.

Slowly the couple rekindles their fractured romance among the mom-against-mom cat fight which ensues when the two women must cooperate to finish a service project for the town’s Century Club.

Some readers felt that the mother’s antics while shopping and filling the Salvation Army Christmas baskets more interesting than the plot involving the two main characters. Agreeably, the supermarket demolition derby  and the toy-throwing incident at the local mall are not to be missed.

One reader described the story’s content as: “no meat on this bone,” while another asked for a more, in-depth explanation of the 10-year-old misunderstanding that  had separated Noelle and Thom.

But it’s all in good fun; so curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy this feel-good Christmas story.

When Christmas Comes (2004)

Just like  the movie, The Holiday, houses are swapped and romance ensues during the Christmas holidays.

But Macomber adds a few twists of her own making to When Christmas Comes.  Instead of a Cameron Diaz and a Kate Winslet exchange, it’s Emily, a lonely widow, and Charles, a stuffy Harvard professor.

Ironically enough Charles, who loathes the holidays, lands in Leavenworth, Washington, the Christmas capitol of the world.

Upon arrival in Boston, Emily discovers  her daughter has already left town for a  Floridian Christmas with the biker boyfriend.  The plot thickens when a meddling mother in Arizona sends elder son, Ray, to investigate the gold-digger answering Charles’ phone.

In the company of Santa and six elves, Faith, descends on Leavenworth to cheer up single mom, Emily, only to find Charles the curmudgeon in residence.  You get the picture.

One reader criticized Macomber for cramming too many underdeveloped characters into the book.  Another found the character of Charles, “cold one minute and kissing Faith the next,” unbelievable.

It’s a hilarious combination of Maeve Binchy’s Tara Road and The Holiday all rolled into 240 pages. Don’t miss it!

Read more about Tara Road here.

Christmas Letters (2006)

When Christmas letter writer, K. O. discovers that the despised Dr. Wynn Jeffries lives in her building, she flips out.

Not only has the good doctor advised parents to downplay Christmas, but her sister’s strict adherence to his “Free Child” methodology has turned K. O.’s once lovely 5-year-old nieces into disobedient ruffians.

Tricked into a dinner date with the noted child psychologist, the conflicted  Katherine O’Connor uncovers a courteous, funny and sweet companion. Need I go on?  An astute reader can probably figure out the rest of the plot.

However, a plot twist involves Wynn’s ex-hippie father, and the quirky neighbor, LaVonne, who reads kitty litter and Raisin Bran to foretell the future.

Some readers thought the conflict resolution too short and unrealistic.  Another mourned the loss of the secondary characters in the final chapters of the book.

In the end, two romances prove better than one especially during the Christmas season.

For tips on writing Christmas letters click here.

Where Angels Go (2007)

Part of Macomber’s angels series, this novel chronicles the misadventures of Christmas angels Shirley, Goodness and Mercy.

Mercy’s task involves helping an elderly man convince his stubborn wife to pack up their home of a lifetime and enter an assisted living facility before he departs the earth.

Goodness takes on the job of helping reclusive Beth find true love while playing a video game with her online partner.

Lastly, Shirley has to find a way to satisfy Carter’s greatest Christmas wish – a dog of his very own.

Book number 3 in Macomber’s Christmas angel series, sparkles  with child-like wonder for the older crowd. Somewhat predictable, but a great stocking stuffer!!

A Cedar Cove Christmas (2008)

Mary Jo Wyse finds herself in much the same predicament as her namesake from the New Testament–pregnant and not married.

Two weeks before her due date, this mother-to-be travels to Cedar Cove where the prospective father had promised to meet her.

Since the town is bursting with Christmas Eve visitors and there’s no room at the inn, librarian Grace Harding offers a room over her stable housing all of the animals for Cedar Cove’s living Nativity.  Watch out for the camel – he bites!!

When David is a no-show and  baby Noelle decides to make an early appearance, it’s young paramedic, Mack McAfee who saves the day.  The arrival of the three Wyse men, Mary Jo’s overprotective brothers, rounds out the story even down to their gifts, modern day versions of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Macomber’s 2008 Christmas offering is actually the 9th book in the Cedar Cove series and should be read before 92 Pacific Boulevard.  If you prefer, it can stand alone.

Macomber’s yultide stories are a fast read, 240-300 pages, filled with warmth, joy and laughter.  Pick up one during the upcoming Christmas season.

Watch for Mrs. Miracle, Macomber’s 2005 Christmas offering, as a Hallmark channel movie presentation on December 5th.

” Programs, here! You can’t tell the players without a program!”

Just like the avid baseball fan, readers of Back When We Were Grown Ups would  appreciate a program or even a score card to keep track of the sheer number of characters strolling in and out of Anne Tyler’s 15th book.

First off, the jovial Joe Davitch married Tina and begat three daughters:

1. Bridget (Biddy)
2. Patricia (Patch)
3. Elinor (NoNo)

As the novel opens, we meet Rebecca (Beck) Davitch, 53, a dimpled grandmotherly type whose loose style of dress resembles that of a bag lady.

Widowed at 25, this proprietress of a 19th century Baltimore row house/party rental, inherited a ready-made family when Tina abandoned Joe and their three children for a career as a New York night club singer.

The eldest Davitch daughter, a  part-time nutritionist who dreams of being a gourmet chef, habitually refuses to taste her own concoctions for the Open Arms clientele. With her fiance’ dead of an asthma attack, the newly pregnant Biddy, 20, moved in with his gay brother.

Together, she and Troy have parented Dixon, the black-haired, brown-eyed heart throb who waits tables and aspires to attend John Hopkins.

The middle daughter, a gym teacher with a sharp freckled face and chopped black hair, looks and acts 14.  She and husband, Jeep, the big-footed runner have produced three children of their own.

1. Danny, a natural athlete
2. Emmy, the long-legged pixie
3. Meredith, an exact replica of Patch

When the youngest, tiniest and prettiest stepdaughter marries corporate lawyer, Barry Sanborn, she becomes the mother of Peter, 12, whom Tyler describes as a puny runt of a boy.

Before Joe’s untimely death at 38 in a freak car accident, he and Rebecca produced a fourth daughter, Minerva aka Min Foo.

Her children include:

1. Joey, 8, the product of her union with Drake, a 60-year-old college professor who has since moved to a Greek Island.
2. Lateesha, 4, the offspring of her African-American husband, LaVon, an aspiring musician who teaches fourth grade.
3. Baby Abdul, the son of her present husband, cardiologist Hakim Abdulazim.

Is your head spinning yet?  Then add in Poppy (Paul Davitch) Joe’s almost 100-year-old uncle of the white bushy mustache and college degree who lives with Rebecca.

Plus, there’s Zeb, Joe’s younger brother, a gangling, bespectacled pediatrician who may or may not be a love interest for Beck. After all, they call each other every night before going to bed, alone.

Feeling that life had passed her by, Beck reconnects with her college sweetheart, Will Allenby, head of the physics department of a local university.  But Rebecca’s futile attempts to rekindle their bygone romance fails and she rejects him for a second time. (How could anyone eat chili seven days a week for dinner?)

In the end, the matriarch of the Davitch family accepts her role as the go-to person, the problem solver and moves forward from that point.

Readers of Back When We Were Grownups will discover a  well-crafted character study of a large dysfunctional family.  The plot meanders along, rises to the celebration of Poppy’s 100th birthday and flat lines after that.  Nothing of great importance happens, and for that reason, some may rate Tyler’s novel as boring.

However, others describe her work as a superb chronicle of ordinary life, the tiny daily events which fill our waking hours. Beck Davitch is as familiar as our next-door neighbor or best friend.

One reviewer thought that the opening line:

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”

hinted at great life-changing events that never found their way into the novel’s narrative.

A complete listing of Tyler’s novels can be found here.

Discussion Questions for Back When We Were Grownups can be found at this link.