"...Christmas Stories to Celebrate With"

CHRISTMAS REVELS is an anthology that includes four previously published regency Christmas stories and a contemporary story written for this collection. All five stories are great.

In A Holiday Fling distinguished British actress Jenny Lyme, is trying to save the "Tithe Barn Community Center" in her hometown of Upper Bassett. The Community Center has been part of the town's life for centuries and now it is going to be sold because the lease is expiring. Jenny is determined to use her contacts to produce at the Barn a high quality Christmas production, which can be sold to the BBC and maybe PBS. She needs the best cameraman, and Greg Marino is the cinematographer she wants. Jenny and Greg had an affair ten years earlier, but their developing careers cut short the time they had for their relationship. It is a time that neither of them has been able to forget. Greg is happy to come to England for Christmas to help Jenny, and at this magical time of year these two may have a second chance for love.

In The Christmas Cuckoo, a case of mistaken identity brings two lonely people together on an enchanting Christmas Eve. Major Jack Howard is supposed to be on his way to his aunt's for a command Christmas appearance, but in rebellion he has taken a public carriage going anywhere else, and has ended up slightly intoxicated at an unfamiliar inn. Meg Lambert has been responsible for her younger half-siblings for many years and has no dreams of getting married herself. She is to pick up her younger brother's army companion, Captain Jack Howard, at the coach station, but when she arrives, Jack Howard is inebriated and somewhat older than she expected. Still he is the hoped for chance for her beautiful younger sister Phoebe to make a good marriage and Meg is determined to have Phoebe settled, so she and Jack struggle back to the farm in the storm. He awakens the next morning in a bedroom of the Lambert farmhouse and it doesn't take him long to figure out that he is the wrong Jack Howard. He intends to tell Meg immediately, but finds himself wanting to be included in the warmth and happiness of the Lambert family for a little longer. And he wants to stay near Meg if only just for Christmas.

Lord Randolph Lennox decides to go to Italy for some Sunshine for Christmas, to get away from the rain and the loneliness of Britain. But he is just as lonely in Naples as he was in England, until he meets Miss Elizabeth Walker, a governess who is between situations. Elizabeth helps Sir Randolph in a predicament where his Italian is insufficient, and he asks her to lunch. She has been working for Italian families and is familiar with the local restaurants and sights, so she agrees to spend some of her free time showing him around. They discover a mutual love of art, and an interest in Mt. Vesuvius. But it is a trip to the Fields of Fire north of Naples that may finally seal their fates.

In The Christmas Tart seamstress Nicole Chambord is accused of robbery by her employer, and is thrown out into the streets of London just before Christmas. She has only the clothes on her back, including a scarlet cloak given to her by one of the other servants. She is unable to find employment because shops are closed. Sir Philip Selbourne is in London briefly to settle business details of his late father's estate. Two of his friends, knowing how hard he has been working, decide to find a girl to cheer him up. They come across Nicole, and decide that she will do for Philip. She accepts their offer out of desperation, and when Philip returns to his rooms after dinner with his friends, she his waiting for him. But it doesn't take Philip long to discover that she is an innocent.

The final story is The Black Beast of Belleterre. James Markland, Baron Falconer, has been ugly since childhood. His mother died while he was young and his father hated the sight of him, so he has taken to covering his head and body with a black hooded cloak. He puts all of his love and kindness into his estate, and his servants respect him deeply. He visits the neighboring estate of Sir Edwin Hawthorne, to whom he has lent money, and finds that Hawthorne's estate is dreadfully neglected and Sir Edwin has gambled most of the estate's resources away. But Sir Edwin has a beautiful daughter, Ariel, who is his only resource left. She has been ignored and punished harshly, but she is beautiful, and Sir Edwin plans to marry her to a rich, lecherous, very old man. James is horrified by Hawthorne's treatment of Ariel, and agrees to forgive the loan for Ariel's hand in marriage. He promises her she is to be his wife in name only, but Ariel is soon fascinated by her kind, tortured husband.

Christmas Revels is a great collection for a cold winter's evening with a hot cup of tea. Mary Jo Putney's characters are memorable and their stories are heartwarming.

Reviewed by Cynthia Meidinger
Posted October 1, 2002

Read an Excerpt

Celebrate the holiday season with Mary Jo Putney in this delicious volume containing four of her classic Regency novellas, plus one new contemporary story.

Summary

In A Holiday Fling, a British actress and a Hollywood cameraman team up to film a Christmas show for a good cause. Anything that happens between them will be a strictly temporary holiday fling-or might it be more?

The Christmas Cuckoo features a level-headed young woman who goes to the local coaching inn and comes home with the wrong Jack Howard.

Sunshine for Christmas sends a lonely young aristocrat to Italy for the holidays, where he finds a most unexpected bonus.

The Christmas Tart is the tale of a young Frenchwoman down on her luck, whose bleak choice for survival takes her to a new chance for happiness.

The Black Beast of Belleterre turns Beauty and the Beast into a tender holiday love story.