Marci Alborghetti has been writing only slightly longer than she’s been reading. In seventh grade she received her first writing prize for a zany Halloween story. The prize? A five dollar gift certificate to a local bookstore. She was hooked. The Christmas Glass is her fourteenth book, and she is currently at work on a sequel as well as a non-fiction book about service. Some of her other books include: Prayer Power: How to Pray When You Think You Can’t, A Season in the South and Twelve Strong Women of God.
She and her husband, Charlie Duffy, live in New London, Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay area. While in New London she facilitates the Saint James Literary Club.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
In the tradition of The Christmas Shoes and A Christmas on Jane Street, the heartwarming story of The Christmas Glass shows how, today as always, the Christmas miracle works its wonders in the human heart.
In the early days of World War II in Italy, Anna, a young widow who runs a small orphanage, carefully wraps her most cherished possessions — a dozen hand-blown, German-made, Christmas ornaments, handed down by her mother — and sends them to a cousin she hasn’t seen in years.
Anna is distressed to part with her only tangible reminder of her mother, but she worries that the ornaments will be lost or destroyed in the war, especially now that her orphanage has begun to secretly shelter Jewish children. Anna’s young cousin Filomena is married with two-year-old twins when she receives the box of precious Christmas glass.
After the war, Filomena emigrates to America, where the precious ornaments are passed down through the generations. After more than forty years, twelve people come to possess a piece of Christmas glass, some intimately connected by family bonds, some connected only through the history of the ornaments.
As Christmas Day approaches, readers join each character in a journey of laughter and tears, fractures and healings, as Filomena, now an eighty-four-year-old great-grandmother, brings them all to what will be either a wondrous reunion or a disaster that may shatter them all like the precious glass they cherish.
The Unfinished Gift is a beautifully told story perfect for the Christmas season but relevant for any time of the year. With a historical setting during World War Two, it nevertheless relates spiritual truths that span the generations. While there are times when the reader will definitely want a box of tissues close at hand, there are other moments filled with humor and joy that will prompt a smile or even a chuckle.
The story centers around Patrick, a boy who has just lost his mother to a tragic accident shortly before Christmas. Because his father is a pilot fighting in the war overseas, he is taken to live with the grandfather he has never met – an embittered and grumpy old man who does not know what to do with Patrick. The Unfinished Gift recounts the misunderstandings that caused the estrangement between Patrick’s grandfather and father, the pride and stubborness that kept them apart, and the unexpected circumstances that brought about restoration to a family.
Dan Walsh has penned an extraordinary first novel that left me wanting more. I hope to see future books by this author soon.
“Available at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”
Patrick Collins is seven years old, and on his Christmas list are only three items. He wants the army to find his father. He wants to leave his grandfather’s house. And, for reasons even he doesn’t understand, he wants the soldier that’s tucked away in his grandfather’s attic. Set at Christmastime in 1943, The Unfinished Gift tells in an engaging, simple style the story of a family, and reminds us of the surprising things that affect powerful change in our hearts–like a young boy’s prayers, a shoebox full of love letters, and even an old wooden soldier, long forgotten. This nostalgic story of forgiveness will engage readers everywhere.
Read the first two chapters of The Unfinished Gift here on Scribd or download a pdf here:
The Christmas Dog is a heart warming book that should help the reader prepare her own heart for the Christmas season. It is one of those books to curl up by the fire with on a cold winter evening after a busy day of shopping, cooking, or decorating the house. The Christmas Dog tells a story of three people – each one alone and misunderstood as Christmas approaches. Because of their own pain and fears, each of them has chosen isolation and made erroneous judgments about the others. Fortunately, a stray dog forces them to interact and they soon learn the power of forgiveness and the importance of looking past the surface to find the true person within. Both poignant and humorous, The Christmas Dog is perfect for the Christmas season.
I highly recommend The Christmas Dog but since I don’t want to reveal too much, I will leave it for you to read it for yourself.
“Available at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Betty Kowalski isn’t looking forward to the holidays. She just can’t seem to find Christmas in her heart. Maybe it’s because her husband is gone. Maybe it’s because she’s missing her children. Or maybe it has something to do with her obnoxious new neighbor, who seems to be tearing his house apart and rearranging it on the lawn.
But when a mangy dog appears at her doorstep, the stage is set for Betty to learn what Christmas is really all about.
Christmas is everywhere . . . even where you least expect it.
Join award-winning author and storyteller James Calvin Schaap as he uncovers the grace, joy, and love of the season through seven heartwarming tales of miracle moments in a messy world. This beautiful and inspiring collection of contemporary Christmas stories will remind you what grace looks like–and where to find it.
Endorsements
“Jim Schaap knows our lives. He re-fires our memories. He draws us into settings familiar. He causes us to inhabit the worlds of plain folk struggling with the problems of an ordinary life–and he makes it all so very, very important. . . . Schaap writes sacred mystery into our common lives.”–from the foreword by Walter Wangerin Jr.
Click here to learn more about Finding Christmas or where to purchase a copy.
Read a sample of Finding Christmas in this post using Scribd or dowload a pdf copy by clicking here.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Many links on this site are supplied by the Reviewer groups that provide the books I review. Occasionally other links may be my personal associate links.
Marci Alborghetti has been writing only slightly longer than she’s been reading. In seventh grade she received her first writing prize for a zany Halloween story. The prize? A five dollar gift certificate to a local bookstore. She was hooked. The Christmas Glass is her fourteenth book, and she is currently at work on a sequel as well as a non-fiction book about service. Some of her other books include: Prayer Power: How to Pray When You Think You Can’t, A Season in the South and Twelve Strong Women of God.
In the tradition of The Christmas Shoes and A Christmas on Jane Street, the heartwarming story of The Christmas Glass shows how, today as always, the Christmas miracle works its wonders in the human heart.
Patrick Collins is seven years old, and on his Christmas list are only three items. He wants the army to find his father. He wants to leave his grandfather’s house. And, for reasons even he doesn’t understand, he wants the soldier that’s tucked away in his grandfather’s attic. Set at Christmastime in 1943, The Unfinished Gift tells in an engaging, simple style the story of a family, and reminds us of the surprising things that affect powerful change in our hearts–like a young boy’s prayers, a shoebox full of love letters, and even an old wooden soldier, long forgotten. This nostalgic story of forgiveness will engage readers everywhere.
