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Best-selling authors hitch a ride on Santa's sleigh
It's that time again—the season for well-known authors to don their Santa caps and turn out stories with a holiday spin. Every year more best-selling writers join in hot pursuit of that elusive gift that keeps on giving: a best-selling Christmas book. Here are the contenders on this year's sleigh. Star light, star bright
By T.D. Jakes Putnam, $14.95 240 pages, ISBN 0399151338 Victorian journey
By Anne Perry Ballantine, $15.95 182 pages, ISBN 034546673X Comfort and joy
By Jan Karon Viking, $24.95 304 pages, ISBN 0670031208 A mother's gift
By Jacquelyn Mitchard HarperCollins, $14.95 144 pages, ISBN 0060565578
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Inspirational favorite T.D. Jakes lights the holiday season with
Follow the Star: Christmas Stories that Changed My Life. A best-selling author
and pastor of a fast-growing Dallas church , Jakes offers tales from his own life, illuminating mini-sermons and retellings of
classic Bible stories. In one of the funniest entries, Jakes recalls his family's holiday trip to Hawaii. It didn't turn out the
way he planned: their Christmas Day fishing trip was cut short by seasickness, as one by one his family members turned "the deepest
shade of green you have ever seen." That day, he says, he learned the difference between "a good idea and a God idea."
This thoughtful book is the perfect way to relax and remember the reason for the season.
British mystery writer Anne Perry forsakes the traditional whodunit for a tale of guilt and redemption
in A Christmas Journey. As Christmas approaches in 1853, English socialite
Vespasia Cumming-Gould is passing the season with friends at a country estate. But a tragic event mars the festivities—a
young widow is found dead in a pond, an apparent suicide. The horrified guests blame Vespasia's friend Isobel, whose cutting
words may have driven the young woman to her death. Vespasia realizes the resulting gossip could ruin Isobel socially, so she
and her host concoct a plan: if Isobel will deliver the news to the victim's mother in Scotland, the guests will never speak
of the event again. Isobel reluctantly agrees, and she and Vespasia embark on a journey of expiation that leads them farther
than they could have imagined. This Victorian-era Christmas offering will surprise and delight Perry's fans.
Jan Karon's heartwarming holiday tale, Shepherds Abiding presents Father Timothy with
the challenge of restoring a dilapidated nativity scene. Though he considers Cynthia the artist in the family, Father Tim sees
something special in the neglected crèche and is determined to restore it to its former glory. And he's not the only one hoping
for a Christmas miracle; other Mitford residents have problems of their own. Hope Winchester, the manager of the town bookstore,
Happy Endings, is thinking of taking a step to make the tiny shop her own, and looking for love with Scott Murphy. The strain of a
long-distance marriage is taking its toll on Lew Boyd, the owner of the Exxon station, and young Dooley is having a difficult time
resolving issues with his father. Karon handles the myriad plot lines with ease, using multiple points-of-view to tell the story. Mitford fans who sample this special Christmas treat are sure to find refuge and inspiration in its charming portrait of small-town life.
For a Christmas story that is, by turns, shocking, profoundly sad and ultimately uplifting, pick up a copy of
Jacquelyn Mitchard's slender new book, Christmas Present. How would a mother
react if she learned that she had only a few hours to live? Mitchard, whose novels include The Deep End of the Ocean, portrays a
remarkably unselfish woman who spends her last hours thinking of her children, doing what she can to ease their pain and prepare
them for a life without her. This richly imagined story will leave readers everywhere pondering the value of life's precious
moments.