"Love on the frontier"

Christmas is looking bleak on a farm outside of Coatsville Missouri for Samantha Woodall and her young children, Jake Jr. and Rachel.

Some months earlier Jake Sr. deserted the family, and supplies are running dangerously low. Sameantha has done her best, but life on the frontier is hard. She has lost a lot of weight because she is sacrificing her food to ensure the children get plenty.

No matter that provisions are low life on the frontier demands that when a stranger appears you share what you do have. It is with that generosity that Samantha invites Cladius to share in what they have when he arrives late on a stormy winter night.

His arrival brigns a bright spot to all their lives. Magical, wonderful things begin to happen to the family and their meager farm. Happiness begins to abound for all including Claudius, but his time with the family will be coming to an end shortly. The impact of their brief time together will change everyone's lives.

The Toymaker is a quick e-book that should satisfy a need for a story when time is short. I personally found it a bit hard to relate to the characters, and to care about them. While I could believe that two people in circumstances such as in this book would turn to one another I found it hard to believe that Samantha and Claudius found a passion to last a lifetime.

Reviewed by Sandi Shilhanek
Posted April 21, 2004

Summary

Samantha, widowed with two small children on the Missouri frontier, struggles to survive through the harsh winter. When she gives the small toymaker named, Claudius, shelter from a storm, little miracles begin to happen. But, are they enough to restore love, and her belief in the Magic of Christmas.