Christmas at the Keep: A moving and uplifting festive novella to escape with at Christmas

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A moving and uplifting festive short story from Marcia Willett, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Fern Britton.

But it’s also about capitalist society, and depression, and there’s a bridge that features quite heavily.I started reading ‘Souvenirs of Solitude’ while I was away in the Summer, and then forgot I was reading it until I had another week away early in December. A Serving of Crime with a Difference - You May Just Discover Something Unique, Different, or Unusual in These 20 Crime Novels.

Her step-brother Will has offered sympathy and assistance, and although they haven’t really had much in common, he lost his mother more than a decade earlier, so he can empathise fully. How lovely to hear about Marcia Willett, I met her once when she came to speak at my local library, such a very nice and interesting person. Sit down at a table with people we love, as if serving every meal to an important guest, rather than grabbing junk food in the kitchen. Fans of the novel liked the way that Willett has brought these characters alive through her writing and the descriptions of the landscape are wonderful.Definitely recommended if you want a quick, light and engrossing read that doesn’t take more than a few hours. The subtitle of this book is ‘Notes on Hope’ and the introduction - or ‘prelude’ chapter - talks about modern life, with its wars, shootings, famine, political battles and more, causing depression and hopelessness.

I think some of them must previously have been published in booklet form; readings for passiontide and Holy Week, for instance read as if they were intended for that time of year, but they came up (in my yearly reading) in August. As a young teenager this wasn’t one of my favourites, but when I re-read it as an adult, it shot up in my estimation, and I now count it as one of my top five. Marcia Willett became a published author in 1995 with Thea’s Parrot (aka A Friend of the Family in the USA).An accusation is made… I had remembered the outcome of this (or perhaps sufficient hints were dropped that I figured it out) and the climax of the story, involving a courageous girl and a dangerous rescue, is surprisingly moving. Other than this (and the general lack of modern communication or even electricity on the islands) it doesn’t seem too dated at all.

I’ve been taking a break, this past year, from Georgette Heyer’s historical romance novels, and instead re-reading some of her mid-20th century detective fiction.When an American publisher bought Marcia’s next book (or maybe it was the one after that, it is now such a long time ago I really can’t remember the finer details) Marcia phoned me to tell me this wonderful news! Nor had I remembered that, despite the rather basic style, there are a couple of very moving scenes in this book. I love all Marcia Willett books and have just been re reading The Christmas Angel for about the fourth time. I was looking at your Alstromeria as we have bought a few pots to grow on and we’ve enjoyed having some around.