Nora is used to summer visitors in Tennessee, who drift away to Florida for winter. She gets on with her gardening, making soaps and handcrafts from flowers and herbs. One summer visitor however, Shirley Haverty, stays on to experience a white Christmas and claims that her old house is haunted. NORA BONESTEEL'S CHRISTMAS PAST might be more than the ladies have bargained for.
The Havertys are a mature couple who do traditional decorating, but their Christmas tree was knocked over during the night and ornaments smashed. All the doors and windows were secure. When they went out shopping, the same thing happened again. On a more serious note, the sheriff and his deputy drive out to a hit and run suspect's home in the mountains. He is accused only of denting a car, but that was a Mercedes belonging to a lady of importance, so they have to look concerned. Snow is falling, and the officers decide that they hate politics.
We learn how people lived here in earlier days, shooting their own seasonal turkey during the Depression, canning vegetables, storing apples and raising chickens and hogs. Mountain folks are not soft. They carry on Scots traditions too, and locals hold that Nora Bonesteel has the Sight. This is why her neighbour comes to her for help. The pink and shiny artificial Christmas tree looks out of place with the chestnut timbers and log fire. Speaking of log fires, the sheriff and deputy feel guilted into splitting and hauling some timber for their elderly suspect's wife who will be left alone for days when they take her husband to jail. The forces of law and order sure are neighbourly in Tennessee.
I enjoyed this gentle and descriptive read, which is not a cosy mystery or a romance but just a Christmastime story of friendship and quiet humour, recalling traditions and crafts that run the risk of being forgotten in today rushing, connected world. Sharyn McCrumb has written a timeless story which will help anyone relax and get into the seasonal spirit. NORA BONESTEEL'S CHRISTMAS PAST is a wry, chuckling fancy for readers far and wide.
When someone buys the old Honeycutt house, Nora Bonesteel is glad to see some life brought back to the old mansion, even if it is by summer people. But when they decide to stay through Christmas, they find more than old memories in the walls. On Christmas Eve, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne find themselves on an unwelcome call to arrest an elderly man for a minor offense. As they attempt to do their duty, while doing the right thing for a neighbor, it begins to look like they may all spend Christmas away from home. In a story of spirits, memories, and angels unaware, Sharyn McCrumb revisits her most loved characters who know there is more to this world than the eye can see, especially at Christmastime.
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