Feb 20, AennA rated it liked it Shelves: via-mv-logos-hope. My thoughts, inspired by the book. Unexpectedly good. A compilation of four short stories, with one central theme - Christmas - and, make it two, - Victorian - no, make it three - God.
Yes, Christmas season in a Victorian setting, with the works of God's love. No, don't think that this book is meant to preach or force a My thoughts, inspired by the book. No, don't think that this book is meant to preach or force a relationship with Him to you.
What I primarily like about A Victorian Christmas is how subtle and apt the approach and inclusion of God's teachings in the story. I am a Catholic Christian, is there such thing, by the way? With this book, you wouldn't notice how Palmer included His words of love in her stories. The words are beautiful, and the message is true - when we make God the center of our lives, and the moment Jesus take the wheel of our lives, nothing would ever go wrong.
This is one of the books I bought since the synopsis is interesting, and I love Christmas season! I don't have a single idea on what else to expect from this book, and I even thought I would not find the interest to read it at all. This is not a perfect book, despite its message of God's words. Some character's actions can be surprising sometimes, and how quick a man and woman fall in love is a bit eyebrow raising, but in overall it didn't affect the quality of the story.
Instead it even improved the character's development. Each novella have their own theme, and each novella has its own way of imparting God's importance in our lives, especially on Christmas season. Our faith are oftentimes tested, but any trials wouldn't matter if we know how to reach out to Him. This is one of the books you would love to read in an easy chair, while listening to soft sounds of Christmas carols.
View 1 comment. Nov 10, Loraine rated it really liked it Shelves: kindle , historical-fiction , christmas-stories , victorian-romance. Return to a time when life was uncomplicated, faith was sincere … and love was a gift to be cherished forever. The first took place in New Mexico so I wouldn't call it Victorian but the other 3 definitely were Victorian.
The writing style definitely reminds me of Grace Livingston Hill's novels - simple and classic. The female characters in each were strong, independent, faith-filled women.
He held her hand, guided her, and brought joy in the midst of sorrow. He arranges events in proper order and sets our lives to right after we've put everything at sixes and sevens. He takes the worn-out patches that we give Him, the mistakes, the terrible holes we've caused with our sins, the frayed edges of our lives, and He pieces them all together into something beautiful and useful.
If we give him our scraps, He can make quilts. Dec 04, Gwendolyn Gage rated it really liked it Shelves: kindle-ebooks-i-own.
They are worth light-hearted entertainment value, but being short Christmas stories that feature romance between characters meeting at the beginning I'm giving it three stars because I especially enjoyed the second novella, "Lone Star".
The daughter of a rich Texan rancher journeys to England to solidify her father's business relationship with an earl by marrying his son. During her journey, she meets a young English viscount who is fascinated by her speech and quilting. The story had me laughing several times, and I liked the main characters. I wish they were featured in a full-length novel! This is my second book by Catherine Palmer, and I believe I will continue to look for and read all of her books.
Her writing doesn't beg to be underlined or studied, but there's something about it. The romantic adventure? Because when I read Palmer's stories, I forget that I'm a writer studying the writing craft, and just enjoy reading. View all 3 comments.
Dec 24, Stacy rated it it was amazing Shelves: historical-romance , short-stories-novella , christmas-reads , my-fives , favorites , christian. This is a wonderful collection of Christmas stories for the Christian history lover. I've seen some comment that it is not their cup of tea, because they feel it is " too preachy". I do not agree with that thought, but to each his own. The author uses scripture throughout, and I can see similarities between the storylines and characters of these stories in relationship to the Bible.
If some find these offensive there are many other books that people can chose from. Here is my summary: Angel in t This is a wonderful collection of Christmas stories for the Christian history lover. Here is my summary: Angel in the Attic-- Fara Canaday is a feisty, high spirited character that I fell in love with instantly. The difference was Mary Stuart Chern used her gun to capture her man and hold him hostage, while Fara used her gun to send the men away.
She said that there would be no man stealing kisses and trying to marry up with her for her money. I give this story 5 stars. There are similarities of the biblical story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. This is a story about forgiveness. Dec 20, Jo-Ann Fitzgerald rated it it was amazing Shelves: reviewed.
This has 4 short stories within it historically written. I loved the first story as the heroine is gusty and I could see my ancestors in her place especially my grandmother! The next story is about how a bride was promised to someone and along the way she meets someone else and they end up falling for each other. However, they try and keep the promises made until The third story is interesting for a gentleman of some means wanting to get to know one of his servants.
The story from there get This has 4 short stories within it historically written. The story from there gets bumpy indeed. The last one broke my heart due to a child getting taught something he shouldn't ever had and it comes back to bite him in the butt. This was some journey he and his intended go on. This simple idea paved the way for the sending of the first Christmas cards. Sir Henry Cole tested the water in by printing a thousand cards for sale in his art shop in London at one shilling each.
The popularity of sending cards was helped along when in a halfpenny postage rate was introduced as a result of the efficiencies brought about by those new fangled railways. Turkey Time — Turkeys had been brought to Britain from America hundreds of years before Victorian times. When Victoria first came to the throne however, both chicken and turkey were too expensive for most people to enjoy. In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite.
Many poor people made do with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and family in included both beef and of course a royal roast swan or two. By the end of the century most people feasted on turkey for their Christmas dinner.
The great journey to London started for the turkey sometime in October. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available. Victorian Christmas in Print. Authors Tara Moore. Front Matter Pages i-xi. Pages Books for Christmas, — It also details what contributions the Victorians added to our modern view of Christmas, including the pudding and the slow adaptation in modern times to Christmas Cake. I had to smile at the suggestion that the transition was due to making the cake without alcohol, as my family recipe for Christmas Cake uses nothing but brandy for the liquid in the recipe.
It's a well-researched book that goes into every possible Christmas tradition, including the origins of Christmas cards and singing carols. There is a wealth of old recipes, many from the Mrs Beaton Cookbook for things like traditional Wassail, gingerbread in various forms and mincemeat, as well as a vast array of recipes for cooking a spectrum of meats that Victorians from different stratas of society might include in their Christmas feast.
Christmas decorations and the origins of many of the traditions for those are explained followed by the background to Panto and Boxes, two things still common in England though not well known in the U. While I'm not likely to use the wealth of recipes provided, their historical significance makes them of interest. Also included are the lyrics for many old Christmas carols, script samples from mummer's plays and an excerpt from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Whether these are historically significant or filler could be a matter of opinion.
The book finishes off with related New Year traditions and some information that the date for Christmas has actually moved from the new year dates over time and changing calendars, which I didn't know before. As a reference book this is very thorough and professionally presented.
It's not always riviting reading, but most reference books aren't. This is a really nicely presented book about The Victorian Christmas. If you are a fan of Christmas, you will enjoy reading about the traditions, the ones that we still have today and the ones that fell out of fashion.
You will like this book even more, if you are a cook or baker. I'm not, so this was lost on me but there are so many recipes in here. If you wanted to cook an authentic Victoria Christmas, you could! Though some of them are in here for historical interest, like turtle soup. A grea This is a really nicely presented book about The Victorian Christmas.
A great book to get you in the Christmas mood! Dec 03, Robin rated it it was amazing. Good primer on Christmas in Dickens time Full of lore and legend as well as recipes. The author addresses the splendor and fun of a British Victorian Christmas. Includes well documented games and recipes as well as a complete bibliography. Dec 25, M. Nichols rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. I've got mixed feelings about this one.
On the one hand, it is the best book about historic Christmas traditions that I've read so far. However, like many of the others, there are issues with the accuracy of some of their claims, which leaves the rest a tad suspect.
For example, the author claimed the Victorians invented muslin, but that is just not true. It was imported into Britain and was around long before the Victorian era and was exceptionally popular in dressmaking during the Regency era. That aside, this book is full of first-hand accounts from the era, which is super useful. It covers a ton of aspects of Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas, focusing more on what records of that day said rather than regurgitating the information published online or in other books.
If you're interested in learning more about historic Christmas traditions, this is a great place to start. I'm definitely going to use the bibliography in this book to do some more digging into first-hand accounts of the holiday.
So, I'm rounding up to 4-stars for the heavy use of authentic accounts to illustrate things. However, the author's own words have to be taken with a grain of salt as some of their claims aren't true or are not as black and white as presented.
Dec 19, james adams rated it it was ok.
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