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

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Cathy has that wonderful self-deprecating Irish humor that makes you laugh out loud and love her characters so you don’t want the book to end. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. But as the autumn draws to a close and a sprinkling of snow dusts the moors, could the promise of a family Christmas at the Keep be enough to ease tensions and soothe the sting of a long-buried secret? And that is just the work she has published under her own name, she has even written some novels under the pen name Willa Marsh.

In a somewhat convoluted opening, we learn that Jon and Penny, who are in France with her parents, have invited the other Lone Piners to stay in a guesthouse which Penny’s parents have bought. I loved that someone wanting to be an Episcopal [Anglican or Church of England] priest (they can marry) is presented as a sane, kind, reasonable person. The most likeable is Belinda, who is good at art and excellent at caricatures, but as absent-minded as the musical Irene. Recommended if you like gentle women’s fiction, particularly if you have read and liked other books by this author. We have switched to de-caf coffee and tea now, the caffeine – which it didn’t appear to have any adverse effect on me – was upsetting my husband’s BP).And we’ve been told that it will be even milder in the week, anything from around 18C to 20C in the south of England. But how lovely to have this one last piece of writing from a lovely lady who was a very accomplished novelist? I started out with the best of intentions, but sometimes I forgot… but, as I’d written on the dates, it was easy to ‘catch up’ by reading an extra one. I have a hardback edition, which I apparently bought when I was seventeen, the book was only published a few years earlier so I have a full edition of the original text. The book is set in a girls’ school, and is obviously intended for girls, but any keen reader could benefit from the books which are appropriate for anyone of about eight or nine and upwards.

As winter is coming, and although we have global warming, that doesn’t mean the winter will be mild. Marcia Willett became a published author in 1995 with Thea’s Parrot (aka A Friend of the Family in the USA). Each month I pick a few select charities broken down by our most popular countries that you can support instead. I have always loved Marcia’s books, and she also wrote a trilogy, the Chadwick Chronicles, which I really enjoyed.These diverse people are introduced somewhat randomly as they meet each other, initially at a viewing of a flat that’s for sale, and much is made of it being on the day before New Year’s Eve.

So I looked at the shelf where we keep books and booklets with short devotional passages or comments, intended to be read over the course of a month or a year. These books have been reprinted many times, and I understand a TV series has recently been made to introduce a new generation to Malory Towers. I’m participating in the Christmas Reading Challenge hosted by Blogger That Happy Reader ,so I went looking for Christmas books (although the books do not have to be Christmas themed). His book ‘Anxious People’ was allocated for this month’s reading group, so I acquired a copy and then read it in three or four days. Definitely recommended if you like this kind of 20th century ‘cosy’ crime somewhat in the Agatha Christie style.I’m sorry to hear you’ve had more worry about your husband’s health, but pleased he’s now feeling better with adjusted medication. She acknowledges that perhaps most people feel more reasons for despair than hope, but that every step forwards counts; that each act of love or kindness brings God into other people’s lives.

Before she died my mother, as well as myself, was invited, and she really looked forward to the event. She’s out for a walk to post a letter at dusk, and, being a practical kind of person, has no worries about ghosts despite having heard stories of spooks and ghouls at the castle. They are warned of some of the dangers, but feel that a round-the-world tour should not miss out such a large country altogether. I have almost finished this 400+ page book already, and a lovely heart-warming Christmas story it is. I knew the outcome would be positive but had forgotten how it played out, and the ending was exciting, making the book difficult to put down at times.

The main theme of the book is the need to spend time with God, to be alone to pray and listen and accept oneself as a beloved child of the Father. As a book intended for people of around nine or ten and upwards, I think it’s remarkable in the way it helps build understanding of those who may be different from us.