The crunch of newly fallen snow, the weight of wartimeSiblings forging new paths and finding love in three stories, filled with the wonder of Christmas
Turn back the clock to a different time, listen to Bing Crosby sing of sleigh bells in the snow, as the realities of America’s involvement in the Second World War change the lives of the Turner family in Lafayette, Indiana.
In Cara Putman’s White Christmas, Abigail Turner is holding down the Home Front as a college student and a part-time employee at a one-of-a-kind candy shop. Loss of a beau to the war has Abigail skittish about romantic entanglements—until a hard-working young man with a serious problem needs her help.
Abigail’s brother Pete is a fighter pilot hero returned from the European Theater in Sarah Sundin’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas, trying to recapture the hope and peace his time at war has eroded. But when he encounters a precocious little girl in need of Pete’s friendship, can he convince her widowed mother that he’s no longer the bully she once knew?
In Tricia Goyer’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Meredith Turner, “Merry” to those who know her best, is using her skills as a combat nurse on the frontline in the Netherlands. Halfway around the world from home, Merry never expects to face her deepest betrayal head on, but that’s precisely what God has in mind to redeem her broken heart.
The Turner family believes in God’s providence during such a tumultuous time. Can they absorb the miracle of Christ’s birth and His plan for a future?
Where Treetops Glisten is the most cohesive, exciting anthology I’ve read in years. You know how it goes – you pick up a book set written by your favorite authors, only to find that it’s really just short stories bound in a single edition. Not so with this one!
Where Treetops Glisten follows several members of a single family during WWII. The characters from each story mingle with each other throughout the entire book. The details are accurate – no favorite foods changing from one story to the next – and the setting is clear and alive. It’s hard to believe that this was not written by a single author! It reads much more like a single novel than a mini-series bound as one.
Actually, it was so well done that I don’t think I can pick a favorite story. They blended together with superior clarity – so much so that I read the entire book in one series, not ready at any point to put this family and their stories down.
The stories themselves were inspirational as well as historically accurate. Never do they minimize the risk or the dangers of the war – and yet they’re able to leave the reader with hope and encouragement. Now that’s tricky!
This is how these books should be written. Goyer, Putnam, Sundin – you’re masters. I hope you work together again.
TRICIA GOYER is a prolific author of nearly forty books, including Chasing Mona Lisa, and a speaker and blogger.
CARA PUTMAN is the author of twenty books including Shadowed by Grace. She is the winner of the 2008 Carol Award for historical fiction.
SARAH SUNDIN is the critically-acclaimed author of the Wings of the Nightingale series, the Wings of Glory series, and the forthcoming Waves of Freedom novels.
I received a free copy of Where Treetops Glisten from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
What are your thoughts?