The Garland sisters, Faith, Hope, and Joy, share more than
just names inspired by their father's favorite holiday,
Christmas. They share the inability to meet with each other
during the yuletide time of year. But this year Hope is
trying her hardest to bring her sisters together, but of
course nothing ever goes as planned...
While closing her shop for the holiday, a
mystery man walks in. The man, Austin, is from the town
that their
father grew up in and come to find out their grandmother
wants to see them. Hope and her sisters had only met
their grandmother once, and it wasn't a great meeting.
Hope sees this as the chance to convince her sisters to
come with her.
Hope, Faith and Joy hope that if nothing else they can
find out what happened to their father. Their mother
Carla took them away when they were little and they all
thought that their dad would show up one day. As their
stories unfold, we find out that Faith is getting a
divorce because she is in love with a women. Joy just wants to
open a coffee shop, and Hope just wants them all to get
along.
What a great book. Mary Carter shows that no matter what
family is important. Mary also tells the back story of
why these sisters don't get along and why it is so
important for them to find their father. Having lost
both of my sisters, this story hit home. What I wouldn't
give to spend one more day with them.
Even though this is a holiday book, read it any time and
bond with your family, especially with your sisters. You
never know what the future holds.
Faith, Hope, and Joy. As children, the Garland sisters
seemed to fit together as seamlessly as their names. Banding
together helped them survive their free-spirited parents,
who moved from place to place and whim to whim, until their
father took off for good. But as the girls grew up, they
became virtual strangers.
This Christmas, they intend to spend the holidays in their
usual way: far apart. But their ailing grandmother wants her
girls around her once more, and Hope, always the peacemaker,
convinces her reluctant sisters to travel to Leavenworth,
Washington. Hope is immediately charmed by the unique
setting, modeled on a Bavarian village, and by her
grandmother’s handsome, mysterious neighbor. Still, there’s
scant trace of celebration within the Garland family. Joy’s
main motivation for visiting is to secure start-up funds for
a coffee shop. Faith, oblivious to her children’s
unhappiness, is waiting until the holidays are over to
announce that her marriage is over and she has a new love.
With a festive schedule of candy-cane martinis, hot tubs,
and snowball fights, Hope tries to expose and heal old
resentments, but moving forward as a family will take more
than a little seasonal goodwill.
Against a stunning winter backdrop, Mary Carter brings rare
insight to the deep and complicated nature of sisterhood—a
bond that endures far beyond childhood, and can always bring
us home again.