Helpful Score: 2
Still spry at ninety-three, Theodora has lived long enough to see her family grow into an insufferable bunch of truculent knuckleheads. Having finally gathered the whole bickering brood together for the holidays at her South Carolina home, the grand matriarch pines wistfully for those extravagant, homey Christmases of her childhood. How she misses the tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, the over-the-top decorations, those long, lovely fireside chats with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante. These days, where is the love and the joy . . . and the peace?
But this is, after all, a magical time. Someone very special has heard Theodora's pleaand is about to arrive at her door with pockets full of Gullah magic and enough common sense to transform this Christmas into the miracle it's truly meant to be.
What a pure delight to read! And, good for the whole year through! Wonderful to read besides just at Christmas just for a lot of happiness --- such a short read also with miracles abiding throughout the whole story! A THIRD of the book is really good old fashion recipes and many will remember and delight in from the past and for today! Any person who has a heart has to enjoy this book!
But this is, after all, a magical time. Someone very special has heard Theodora's pleaand is about to arrive at her door with pockets full of Gullah magic and enough common sense to transform this Christmas into the miracle it's truly meant to be.
What a pure delight to read! And, good for the whole year through! Wonderful to read besides just at Christmas just for a lot of happiness --- such a short read also with miracles abiding throughout the whole story! A THIRD of the book is really good old fashion recipes and many will remember and delight in from the past and for today! Any person who has a heart has to enjoy this book!
A feel-good Christmas story that is appropriate all year long!
This book is a heart-warming Christmas story. Buy it for your mom or grandmother.
Synopsis
Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.
What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?
Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.
With her truculent family gathered at her stately Charleston mansion for Christmas, 93-year-old matriarch Theodora is having a hard time tolerating the lot of them. Theodora hankers for her 1920s childhood, when Pearl, the family's stern black maid, enforced strict houshold discipline and took no guff while working hard at Christmas, all the while singing gospel favorites such as "Come en Go wid Me." When Theodora's usual maid is called away, Pearl herself (as a ghost) blows in, ready to set the house in order, She unearths the antique crèche and other Christmas heirlooms long buried, and altering the family's general bad temper. Frank (The Land of Mango Sunsets) includes homegrown recipes that further sweeten this Lowcountry holiday confection.
Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.
What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?
Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.
With her truculent family gathered at her stately Charleston mansion for Christmas, 93-year-old matriarch Theodora is having a hard time tolerating the lot of them. Theodora hankers for her 1920s childhood, when Pearl, the family's stern black maid, enforced strict houshold discipline and took no guff while working hard at Christmas, all the while singing gospel favorites such as "Come en Go wid Me." When Theodora's usual maid is called away, Pearl herself (as a ghost) blows in, ready to set the house in order, She unearths the antique crèche and other Christmas heirlooms long buried, and altering the family's general bad temper. Frank (The Land of Mango Sunsets) includes homegrown recipes that further sweeten this Lowcountry holiday confection.
An enjoyable quick Christmas read. One of those books that has someone from your past that you'd love to share another Christmas with, if only possible.
This is truly a wonderful Christmas story.
Enjoyable story. Thought-provoking, but not heavy reading...just right for the holidays. If you like Dorothea Benton Frank, you won't be disappointed with this holiday novel. It was funny, mystical, and filled with southern charm.
A sweet story about a family that has turned into whiney brats, both young and old, and the matriarch doesn't know what to do too save them. Along comes an old friend, with many 'pearls' of wisdom, but is she in time to save this miserable family, as well as Christmas? A quick Christmas read, with a lot of yummy recipes at the end to make any miserable family happy.
Nice, light reading and recipes to boot.
Excellent addition to the Lowcountry Tales series.
This is a fast read although it is a sad one.
I have all of her books. She does such a great job with each book. She is a true southern writer.
Love Holiday stories
great read recipes are good to
A 93-year old women is watching her family grow into unpleasant people. She wishes for an Old Fashion Christmas reminiscent of her childhood. Her desire comes to life with the arrival of a temporary replacement when her housekeeper is unexpectedly called away for a family crisis.
If only we could really have miracles like this occur. Well maybe sometimes they do.
If only we could really have miracles like this occur. Well maybe sometimes they do.
I have been devouring all her books lately. This book was not like the rest!I didn't think I'd like it part way through it, but it finished up in an interestering story. Just a quirky kind of Low-Country tale, I guess.
