Nostalgic Christmas Indulgences by Eleri Grace

 I haven't written a new holiday themed romance for this season to share with you, but my initial thought was that I would share a few recommendations for similar books and movies for readers who enjoy a nostalgic Christmas feel this time of year. Unfortunately, I believe there is still a gaping hole in the Christmas novels market for period pieces set in the years where all our classic Christmas music originated: 1930s-1960s. If I had more time these days, I would try to use the winter season to write a few Christmas novellas to release next fall!

While I couldn't find any novels that were directly set in the 40s, I sure found many where the cover might have led me to believe the novel was set in that era. The retro look and imagery from those years remains a strong sentimental pull that many cover artists are clearly tapping into. So I decided to share a few of my favorite covers with that nostalgic feel. Perhaps you'll find some good novels to explore in these highlighted covers, but at the very least, my hope is that you'll find joy in the beauty and nostalgia of these gorgeous holiday book covers!

This one uses a montage of very classic-inspired Christmas imagery to great effect!

This cover puts me in mind of "Christmas Story" (which was surprisingly set in the late 1940s). 

Classic Christmas ornaments paired with touches of greenery and the gingerbread men that might be strung on old-time Christmas trees. 

I think it's the font as much as anything that evokes a more nostalgic feel in this cover-art. 

I can recommend more than the cover-art with this one -- it's a really lovely novel for fans of historical fiction to read in the holiday season.  

This cover puts me in mind of old-time small town Christmas scenes. 

Classic look of older small town setting with the Main Street decorations. 

The soft look of this cover paired with the retro-style decorations on the light posts and fences evoke a simpler time.

This cover was absolutely inspired by the 1940s (or maybe early 1950s) -- love this one!

Again, other than the one noted, I've not read any of these novels so I'm not leaving specific reading recommendations so much as sharing some beautiful cover art that spoke to me in the season.

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Christmas Favorites by Eleri Grace

 Though it seems impossible it can be that time of year again already, the calendar -- if not the weather here in Houston -- says we are indeed entering the festive season. 

Once again, I find myself a bit stumped by the prompt to share a favorite holiday story. With so much of the classic Christmas tunes we still sing today having been originally recorded in the WW2 era, there are surprisingly no true classic Christmas novels set in that same era. One would think that the times that gave us perennial favorites such as "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song," and "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" would have yielded more novels. If *you* have a favorite Christmas story set in my beloved WW2 era, please do share in the comments!  

Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd, set in 1939, is close, though I think most of us are far more familiar with the 1983 movie than with the original novel. 

So in light of my inability once again to come up with a good recommendation set in my favorite era, this year I will share my favorite novels centered around the season when Charles Dickens penned what many regard as the best Christmas story of all time, "A Christmas Carol." 

In "A Midnight Carol," author Patricia Davis reimagines a financially-strapped Dickens in the fall of 1843, determined to write something "commercial" that will simultaneously save his growing family from ruin and reawaken the festive Christmas seasons of years gone by. It's a short, lively little novel that one can easily read in single sitting, perhaps while snuggled under a fuzzy Christmas blanket. 

Interweaving history and biography with a bit of mystery and a sprinkle of comedic relief, Davis does a masterful job of putting the reader in Victorian London. I always appreciate Davis's atmospheric touches, along with the closer look at the various motivations driving Dickens to create this beloved masterpiece. Readers will cheer for Dickens as he evades the trap his greedy publishers have set and reinvests his beloved London with festive cheer, hope, and Christmas spirit. 

While searching for the title of "Midnight Carol," which I re-read most every year, I came across this recently published novel centered around the same theme and can't wait to devour it this December. The reviews are glowing, and were it not for the balmy temperatures and sunny skies of November in Texas, I would be tempted to curl up with it in advance of the proper season! 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. My Clubmobile Girls novels are available on Amazon. 

Don't Fence Me In by Eleri Grace

Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" is seemingly about physical freedom in a wide-open landscape, and the recording by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in late 1944 was not inspiration to the women who answered the call to duty after Pearl Harbor. But the phrase "Don't Fence Me In" is in some ways a very accurate reflection of the attitude many of the Red Cross Girls held. They were trailblazers, independent thinkers, and pushed up against and beyond barriers on many levels in their lives -- both before, during, and after the war. Freedom undergirded it all. 

Camouflaging the Clubmobile - Normandy 1944

All the women the Red Cross selected through a rigorous interview process for overseas service were resilient and fiercely independent self-starters. Many were single and had been working in a professional capacity for several years (which was one of the Red Cross requirements). Most craved even more freedom and autonomy -- perhaps escaping family members who were pressuring them to settle down into domesticity or seeking the lure of adventure and duty in the thick of the action. And as the war wore on and the Red Cross Girls increasingly recognized their own worth, many dreaded returning home, fearing that they would face pressure to give up their careers or that the opportunities in post-war America would go mostly to the returning male soldiers. One Red Cross Girl wrote her boyfriend that he should understand that she could no longer see herself ever being happy as a housewife and that he should be prepared to carry some of the domestic load because she intended to continue her career. 

Florence, Italy 1944

They experienced unprecedented responsibility and freedom during the war, and many were concerned about adjusting to post-war realities. Based on the numerous memoirs and oral history interviews I used in my research, many of them refused to scale back their aspirations or relinquish the additional freedom they experienced during the war years. Many of these women went on to resume their careers or pursue a new profession, learning how to balance their professional and home lives. I like to think that the daughters of these trailblazing WWII heroines led the charge for women's rights in the 1960s. But the Red Cross Girls (and many other women in the era) played a large role in pushing boundaries and resetting expectations. 

I have a new release coming out this month -- a Clubmobile Girls "short" for your holiday reading. This is the first of a planned anthology of stories set in the Arctic locales of Iceland, Greenland, Alaskan Territory, and the Aleutian Islands. In At His Side for Christmas, Elise Macalester, serving as a Red Cross Girl in Iceland, puts aside her shyness to help reconnect two brothers torn apart by combat. Can she overcome self-doubt and tragic circumstances to find her way to love and happiness? 

You can learn more about me on my website or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

You can find my Clubmobile Girls series on Amazon. At His Side for Christmas is available for pre-order now! 

A Christmas Story by Eleri Grace

I have a more contemporary holiday reading recommendation to share, but I wanted to start with a choice set closer to the time period in which I write (WW2). All these years that I’ve enjoyed watching this classic movie during the holiday season I had mentally dated its setting as post-WW2. I always assumed it was set during the ten years immediately after the war (1945-55). Wrong. While looking through my Christmas books for something to share with our readers, I came across the small book version of “A Christmas Story.”

 

The jacket copy mentioned that it was set in the Great Depression years. Online research reveals that a calendar seen in the film sets it during 1939, but the decoder pen that Ralph receives from the radio show is a 1940 model. In any case, clearly it’s set just prior to the American entry into the war.

 

The book is a collection of the humorous sketches that Jean Shepherd published in the 1960s that were the foundation for the screenplay. I also had never realized that Shepherd narrated the movie as the adult Ralph.

 

For an era that inspired some of our most beloved secular Christmas tunes and provides the setting for classic films such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” I had trouble locating any holiday novels set during that time period. This is obviously a gap I should endeavor to fill with some Christmas love stories set in the war year! 

 

For a more contemporary holiday read, I absolutely adored Josie Silver’s “One Day in December” from a few years ago and would happily read it again this season. 

 

In the opening scene, the down-on-her-luck but plucky heroine spots a handsome boy and experiences a jarring “love at first sight” sensation just as her bus pulls away. Weeks later, she reconnects with the boy from the bus when he is introduced at a Christmas party as her best friend’s new boyfriend. Over the next ten years, Laurie and Jack’s relationship takes surprising twists and turns before delivering a heartwarming and sing-it-from-the-rooftops happy Christmas-time ending. Silver brilliantly draws from the very best romantic-comedy classics – if you enjoy “When Harry Meets Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” you’ll hear subtle echoes of the tropes they use, albeit sprinkled with Silver’s own special touch. 

 

 

 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. My WW2 romances are available through Amazon.