The Joy and Pain of Christmas
There are so many things I love about Christmas—carols, cookies, stockings, decorations, the sense of being cozily tucked up with your loved ones all around. Now that three of my children are out of the house, welcoming them back home is another wonderful part of the Christmas season, and I cherish the days we are together, even if the house does feel a little crowded!
I also know that Christmas can be a difficult time for many people, when the loss of loved ones can be deeply felt. My father died eight years ago, just two days before Christmas, and so the season now brings the painful and poignant nostalgia of remembering and missing him.
Christmas at Embthwaite Farm is a bit like that—as a story it celebrates the beauty and wonder of Christmas, especially in the North Yorkshire moors, a gorgeous part of England, and there are a lot of Christmas cookies featured in the story! But it also deals with the pain and hurt that the Christmas season can so often bring in terms of relationships whose brokenness can be felt especially in the festive season.
Harriet Mowbray has always felt as if her father didn’t love her, and that truth becomes painfully real over the Christmas season. Fortunately, she has the gorgeous distraction of Quinn Taylor, the handsome and eccentric hotelier who hires her to bake cookies for his country house hotel’s Christmas party. But like anyone else, Quinn has his own heartaches, and Harriet will have to help him find his Christmas joy this season, as well, with the help of their family and friends.
Cookies and Christmas trees aside, the Christmas season is about hope—the hope of light coming into the world. Quinn and Harriet both find that light in their story, and I hope you do, as well.
Happy Reading,
Kate
About the Author.
Kate Hewitt wrote her first story at the age of five, simply because her older brother had written one and she thought she could do it too. That story was one sentence long—fortunately, they have become a bit more detailed as she’s grown older.
She studied drama in college and shortly after graduation moved to New York City to pursue a career in theatre. This was derailed by something far better—meeting the man of her dreams who happened also to be her older brother’s childhood friend.
Ten days after their wedding they moved to England, where Kate worked a variety of different jobs—drama teacher, editorial assistant, church youth worker, secretary, and finally mother. Read the rest of Kate’s bio here.
Congratulations on your newest book. I loved this one. I still need to go back and read the first book in the series.