CHRISTMASTIME 1940.

The eighth book read for the 2013 Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge, details of which can be found on my sidebar.

CHRISTMASTIME 1940: A LOVE STORY by Agnes Irene.

SOURCE: A GoodReads win.

Christmastime 1940: A Love Story is a tale of transformation involving a struggling single mom who is trying to make a fresh start in life and a man who has lost his connection to humanity.

 The curmudgeonly Charles Drooms is perfectly content with his life as the owner of a successful accounting firm. However, his narrow world is suddenly shaken up when the beautiful widow Lillian Hapsey and her two young sons move down the hall from him. The converging forces of the Christmas season, the presence of the widow, and the mysterious appearance of a little boy serve to stir up memories from Drooms’s boyhood, and ultimately force him to make a life-altering decision that will affect them all.
..... Outer back cover

FIRST SENTENCE (Chapter 1): The first light of morning revealed a heavy sky over Manhattan, dappled cloud that promised snow.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 70): Some older children were bringing home a Christmas tree on a sled. That image, along with the lingering smell of gingerbread, put him right back in the old farmhouse kitchen when he was twelve years old.

That Christmas. There was his mother bent over the oven, checking on the gingerbread. His older sister Kate, her apron white with flour, was rolling out cookie dough on the wooden table .......

MY THOUGHTS: As well written characters are just as (perhaps even more) important to me as a good plot I found Christmastime 1940's Mr Charles Drooms a real treat.

A seemingly solitary, curmudgeonly man who put me in mind of Dickens' Scrooge - I could clearly see him sat at his kitchen table beavering away night after night once work had finished, his generally sparse meal eaten - it was wonderful to see him transformed by the power of Christmas and a certain young widow.

Not that the plot wasn't good. A story of family and friendships. A tale of love, loss and, most of all, hope this is a touching love story that though set in the 1940's is somehow delightfully old fashioned (dare I say almost Dickensian like?) making it perfect festive reading.

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