I can only read books with Christmas in them at Christmas time. Nothing else makes me content. Anne Perry’s newest in her Christmas series, A Christmas Promise, made me totally content.
Her others in the series have all been about Christmases for adults in various parts of Victorian society and in various British locations. This one is smack dab in the middle of gritty, grungy London in a cold, rainy Christmastime, and features two little girls, one 8 and one 13, caught up in a murder and a search for a missing donkey. The 13 year old is pretty far down the social totem pole, with the 8 year old, whose grandfather is gone and whose donkey is missing, even farther down that pole. I liked both the girls, and would have liked the grandfather, I’m sure, if he had stayed alive and in the story. He made the 8 year old, Minnie Maude Mudway, laugh, so she said through her tears.
Excellent writing, a good, strong and well-told story. Totally satisfying.