Christmas Bells

August 15, 2015
Preparing for Christmas in Cambridge, Massachusetts, church members face challenges aided by faith and friends and inspired by the eponymous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-who, in an alternate storyline, fights despair as he confronts personal tragedy and the Civil War. Christmas is fast approaching, and St. Margaret's Catholic Church is a hub of activity. The children's choir, under Sophia's talented guidance, is practicing its program, which includes "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," the lovely carol based on the poem by Cambridge's own Longfellow. Sophia is determined to remain optimistic this season, despite her recently broken engagement and the threat of losing her job next spring. After all, these children lift her spirits, and she can always depend on Lucas, the saintly accompanist, to be there for her. Particularly talented are the red-haired siblings, serious Charlotte and precocious Alex, whose father is serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan and whose mother is overwhelmed by the crushing news that her beloved husband is missing, a fact she's trying to keep secret. Father Ryan loves his calling and his congregants and is doing his best to aid them in their trials even as he navigates his own fractured family. The odd but cheerful, elderly Sister Winifred offers help and reassurance with eerily perfect timing and perception. Meanwhile, in a separate historical storyline that is lightly attached to the contemporary one, we follow Longfellow through the Civil War and the life-altering events that tested his faith and nearly crushed his spirit. Chiaverini stitches together a series of lightly interlocking contemporary vignettes in an intriguing way and manages to tuck away all the ragged edges in the emotionally satisfying conclusion. In the background are Longfellow's tragic Civil War-era experiences, which, while poignant, feel emotionally distant. A gentle exploration of tragedy, hope, the power of Christmas, and the possibility of miracles.

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October 1, 2015
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas Bells, a lamentation on the Civil War, is at the center of this uplifting Christmas tale. In Watertown, Massachusetts, Sophia learns that her job as a music teacher is in jeopardy due to budget cutsgreat news right before Christmas. She finds solace leading the children's choir at Saint Margaret's Church with lovesick accompanist Lucas. Alex and Charlotte, siblings and choir singers, are distracted by the bad Internet connection in Afghanistan that makes communication with their father impossible. Meanwhile, their mother, Laurie, is afraid to ruin the kids' holidays by telling them he is actually MIA. Each character, including batty Sister Winifred and a politician's widow, gets the chance to narrate a chapter of the story, alternating with Longfellow in the 1860s, first worrying about Southern secessionist rumblings, then mourning his wife, then trying desperately to prevent his oldest son from enlisting in the Union Army, and finally producing the famous poem of the title. Though her novel is a bit slow and strangely repetitive in places, Chiaverini nonetheless hits all the right emotional notes in this heartwarming story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2015

Inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Christmas Bells," Chiaverini (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker) intersperses the story of how Longfellow came to write the poem with the stories of several people connected to St. Margaret's, a church in contemporary Boston. In the early 1860s, Longfellow is mourning the death of his wife and worrying about his son on the Civil War battlefields while in the present a music teacher faces the loss of her job, a family worries about their missing father in Afghanistan, and brothers clash. With a little help from Sister Winifred, however, those at St. Margaret's find the hope and joy of the season as they sing a hymn inspired by Longfellow's words. VERDICT Chiaverini writes a heartfelt story of Christmases past and present. [See Prepub Alert, 4/6/15.]

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015

Chiaverini here stays in keeping with her recent historical work (e.g., Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule) by referencing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's rousing "Christmas Bells," written as Longfellow mourned the death of his wife and his son's departure to fight for the Union and also sung as a hymn. It inspires a much-burdened teacher in contemporary Boston who had been dreading her participation in a church holiday concert.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.