Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past - Sharyn McCrumb - Review AND Giveaway

A Christmas book? Already Luanne? I know, I know, but can I be the first to tell you that there are only eighty days until Christmas! One of my favourite things to do in the days leading up to the twenty fifth is to read holiday tales. So, really, I'm just giving you lots of advance notice.....and a chance to own Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past!

I've found that many novelists publish a holiday story featuring their recurring characters or settings. And that's true with Sharyn McCrumb's first Christmas book. McCrumb also writes what she knows.....

...."My books are like Appalachian quilts," says Sharyn McCrumb. "I take brightly colored scraps of legends, ballads, fragments of rural life, and local tragedy, and I piece them together into a complex whole that tells not only a story, but also a deeper truth about the culture of the mountain South."

Nora Bonesteel has lived her whole life in her family home in the mountains. She has fond memories of years and Christmases gone by. When her newish neighbour comes to call, prattling on about their house being haunted, Nora has an idea what might be going on....

McCrumb also includes a parallel storyline featuring Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne, who are reluctant to carry out an arrest warrant on Christmas Eve. When they arrive at the house, they too are in for a bit of a surprise....

McCrumb's description of the settings evokes vivid pictures of time and place. But it is Nora's memories that stayed with me - Christmases gone by that were celebrated in a simpler fashion, without the commercial frenzy. It was about the people, not 'things'. McCrumb's style of writing is comfortable, almost folksy, leaving the reader feel like they're part of the story.

This was an great start to this year's holiday reading! Read an excerpt of Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past. And if you too would like to read this book, I have a copy to giveaway to one randomly chosen reader. Simply leave a comment with your favourite holiday memory to be entered. Open to US and Canada, no PO boxes please. Ends October 18/14.

Sharyn McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times best sellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and Ghost Riders. Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past, releasing in October 2014 by Abingdon Press, is McCrumb's first Christmas novella in the Ballad series.