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Two Christmas Books: Christmas Visitor and A Redbird Christmas
Reviewed by David Agriesti
November 28, 2005

A Christmas Visitor
By Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2004, 199 pages

Members of the Dreghorn Family are returning to the family home in the Lake District of England:  Benjamin, a clergyman/archeologist, returning from a dig in Palestine; Ephraim from Africa where he studied plant life, and Naomi, the widow of their brother  Nathaniel, who died in America.

This was not to be a happy homecoming because Judah, the eldest brother, died in what appeared to be a careless accident.  His wife Antonia sent for her godfather, Henry Rathbone who was a mathematician and inventor, because some ugly rumors were being spread in the village about the deceased man and she wanted help in dispelling them.

The house the Dreghorn family lives in originally belonged to the Gower family.  The death of the senior Gower caused problems in the line of descent, the crucial thing being the date of the deed.

When Ashton Gower removed the deed from the safe in his father’s home and delivered it to the authorities, it was found to be a forgery, and he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.  He protested his innocence throughout.

The house went to another branch, Peter Colegrave, who sold it to the Dreghorn family at a low price.  Now, 11 years later, Gower says that Judah Dreghorn, who was the judge on the case, had the document forged so that he could buy the property cheaply.

However, some problems arise and Henry Rathbone visits both the solicitor and the forgery expert involved and determines that although the deed was forged, it was the true deed intentionally copied badly so that it would look like a forgery.  When the murderer discovered that Judah Dreghorn had uncovered that fact, he arranged an accident which took his life.

When the plot is uncovered and the real murderer unmasked, the Dreghorn Family realizes that Ashton Gower has suffered a grave injustice. The humility and generosity of the Dreghorn family highlights that spirit which should be the sign of Christian character throughout the year, but which many people only consciously display at the Christmas season.

This is the second of Anne Perry’s Christmas novels.  She gives an excellent picture of the life of the privileged classes of 19^th century England; she actually makes the reader feel as though he was on the scene.

A Redbird Christmas
By Fannie Flagg, Random House. 2004, 229 pages

Oswald Campbell lives in a residential hotel for men in Chicago.  His only close relation is his ex-wife.  His life is none too exciting, so when his doctor tells him he doesn’t have much longer to live, he decides to move to the South.  The doctor, who has some old travel information, gives him a brochure about an Alabama hotel where the rates are reasonable; unfortunately, the hotel burned long ago.  However, the lady who answers his phone calls sees no need to tell him that, and she arranges for him to stay in the house of a friend.

He becomes a resident of the town, Lost River.  Campbell is welcomed by the other citizens, and he soon becomes accustomed to life in the South.  He visits the general store for coffee and conversation with the storekeeper, and then goes the docks where he studies birds.  The storekeeper has nursed an injured redbird back to life, and this redbird takes up residence in the store.

In the meantime, a small girl named Patsy, a member of an itinerant group of workers who live at the edge of the town, comes by everyday to look at the bird through the window.  However, she makes no effort to enter the store until the storekeeper invites her in.  When he does, he sees that Patsy walks with a limp.  When this child is abandoned by her shiftless caregivers, a childless woman in the town decides to adopt her.  Of course, the whole town helps to raise money for an operation that will repair the damage to her leg.

A miracle that almost smacks of O. Henry occurs at the appropriate moment.  This moment, of course, is the precise moment at which Patsy begins to recover from her operations.   This is a sweet Christmas story by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.  A Redbird Christmas will make even the most hardened northern city dweller want to move to a small Alabama town.

ninetyandnine.com

© 2005, David Agriesti

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David Agriesti reviews books from the relative comfort of Columbus, OH.