Hi,

Do you miss Christmas? As a matter of fact I do, but if you belong to the majority of people I know, you probably don’t. Please do me a favor and keep on reading. 🙂 Some time ago, when I started to read Kate Lord Brown‘s The Christmas We Met, I was expecting a very wintry and christmassy novel, but it isn’t.

After Grace’s husband Sam vanishes she loses everything. She has to watch as her home and all her belongings are sold to creditors and her beloved workshop has to go under the hammer. When Grace is finally ready to take a new job, it’s to work as a secretary for Fraser Stratton and not as a jeweler. The day she drives to Wittering Manor for her job interview is the first day of a turbulent year that might change Grace’s life forever.

Fraser Stratton is in the process of writing his memoirs and needs help sorting his thoughts. He is an eccentric and lovable old man who made me laugh more than once. Even though most of the characters in the novel are well-developed, Fraser is my favorite. Grace, who is depressed after all that she’s gone through, soon realizes that she’s needed and, not surprisingly, turns into a much happier person. This process however is not a smooth one and from time to time Grace behaves irrational.

As I’ve said before, The Christmas We Met is not a Christmas novel, it spans a whole year and is set in the 1970s. As Fraser Stratton writes his memoirs, there are flashbacks to his past which is even more gripping than the action taking place in the present.

This novel is like a scavenger hunt full of mystery that soon turns into a page-turner. The Christmas We Met is well-researched and Kate Lord Brown has taken care of even the smallest details. If you like engrossing historical fiction, then this one is for you.

¹ https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Books/detail.page?isbn=9781409159957
² An uncorrected proof was provided by the publisher.