Often times the mere mention of Christmas stirs cherished memories and makes us nostalgic of years gone by and the ones we love. Maybe you even begin to hum your favorite Christmas tune. Author Anita Higman harnesses that sentimentality and affection for the holiday season in her latest release, A Merry Little Christmas.
Higman invites readers to fall in love with this cozy story about two people from different worlds. Franny Martin is an Oklahoma farm girl who’s preparing to spend the holidays alone... again. She has spent all of her adult life keeping the family farm going after her parents’ death, and she struggles to make ends meet. Franny has no money to speak of, but she is clever and spirited. Her love for music drives her dream to sell the farm and move to the city.
Then Charlie Landau shows up one day, all wealth and polish, and offers to buy Franny’s farm. Charlie has been trying to prove himself and meet the expectations of his wealthy father after falling short on one business venture after another. He is determined to make his latest endeavor work —
running a farm—that is, after taking a few lessons from Franny.
Even though Franny and Charlie come from very different backgrounds, they quickly find a common bond. In the back of her mind, Franny fears the bigger life that lies beyond her small world. At the same, Charlie is afraid of letting his father down yet again. Both must face their fear of failure and come to the realization that life on the other side isn’t always as it appears.
Drawing on her own experience of growing up in Oklahoma, Higman brings the Martin farm to vivid life. Yet, that’s not the only part of her childhood that she brings to the story. “Even though A Merry Little Christmas is really a love story, I felt it needed some additional conflict, and some of the racial struggles of the 60s seemed to be the right choice for this particular plot,” says Higman. “I grew up in the 60s, and I was always interested in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. In some ways I feel I’ve waited my whole life to write this book. It came easily to me in that it’s been percolating in my imagination for a long time, but it was also hard to write because I had to consider more deeply the injustices of that era. Even though it sounds like a cliché, A Merry Little Christmas truly was the book of my heart.”
As Sinatra croons from the radio and Christmas descends upon her charming farm, Franny teaches Charlie the curious and sometimes comical ways of country life. In the process, they unearth some discoveries of the heart—that sometimes love comes when you’re least ready for it. Will the holidays bring their most impossible dreams within reach?
Release Date: October 2012
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-60936-688-9
List Price: $14.99
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A Merry Little Christmas is the first release in Summerside’s Songs of the Season™ line. Each year, readers will get into the spirit of Christmas with a seasonal romance. Each giftable hardcover book will bear the title of a popular Christmas song from a nostalgic era combining romance and small-town charm.
For more information on Anita Higman and her books, visit her website.
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