Stack your stockings with local offerings
THIS MARLOWE BY MICHELLE BUTLER-HALLETT GOOSE LANE $32.95 444 PAGES
If you want to judge this book by its cover, go ahead. The gorgeous design (by Julie Scriver) shows a richly textured Elizabethan costume in russet, blue, and orange, and was one of the most striking of its year. And now Michelle Butler-hallett’s “This Marlowe” has been longlisted for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award. Sponsored by the Dublin City Council – hey, what a great idea — and nominated by libraries — ditto — the award recognizes novels written in English or translated into English, a major pool. They appreciated the merit of Butler-hallett’s literary account of an enduring historical literary mystery – the murder of Christophe “Kit” Marlowe, brilliant playwright and purported spy, in London, May 30, 1593. The shortlist will be announced in April, and the winner in June.
CHRISTMAS IN THE HARBOUR BY VICTORIA BARBOUR FLANKER PRESS $16.95 184 PAGES
This is the sixth in the Heart’s Ease series, interlinked narratives connected by a Victoria Barbour’s fictional community in Trinity Bay. When a blizzard blows in on Christmas Eve, festive plans are foiled, and Hannah Nolan and Toby Sweeney, two people who have lots of reasons — age, temperament, family strictures — not to be together find themselves marooned in their Outer Battery house, without power. Hannah, a graduate student at Memorial, is longing to be with her family, especially her two older sisters. The eldest, Fiona, is married to Dillon, Toby’s business partner and best friend – and both have forbidden him to show the least interest in Hannah. The middle girl, shy, nerdy Grace, has entranced homegrown rock star Asher Corbin and embarked on a world tour, but promises to make it home for the holidays. Toby works long hours at his bar and music shop and planned to spend his Christmas alone, drinking beer and watching taped hockey games. The only relative he planned to see was his ailing grandfather. He’s not sure where his mother is or even if she’s alive.
On the surface, their relations consist largely of bickering, but underneath both have been attracted to each other for some time. Now they’re trying to get through a Christmas Eve, compromising on their ideas of ritual (and by the way, Toby is correct, “Die Hard” makes for an excellent Christmas movie). And it might be time to confront the tension. Hannah is starting to think so: “There were secrets to Toby that made Hannah wonder who he was beneath the good-time-guy exterior. He was great at deflecting questions without you noticing it.” But she was catching on. “Understanding dawned on her. This look wasn’t directed at her. It was all internal. There was a battle raging inside that man, and she was going to make it her goal to make sure he came out on the winning side.”
“Christmas in the Harbour” is genre fiction, and unapologetically so, from the canoodling couple pictured on the cover. If it’s formula, then so is much fiction. It’s engaging stuff, dramatic, and about emotions and characters in relatable circumstances, focused on women who speak their minds, even if they don’t always know their hearts.
The book includes a bonus short story, also set at Yuletide. “A Kiss Worth Chasing” opens at the St. John’s airport two days before Christmas, as Ginny Winter puts her mother and her three overpacked suitcases on a flight to Houston, a last-minute decision bringing her to Ginny’s brother and sister-in-law, and leaving Ginny alone for the holidays. She’s determined to barrel through solo, as her romantic life registers somewhere below tepid. But she immediately meets a blue-eyed stranger. His name is Sean King, and they seem to have some odd, undeniable connection. Or, as Ginny puts it, “Fate was out to get her.” And fate will bring them, too, to Heart’s Ease.
A PUFFIN PLAYING BY THE SEA: THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR WRITTEN BY GINA NOORDHOF, ILLUSTRATED BY DEREK PEDDLE WWW.GINANOORDHOF.COME $16.95 28 PAGES
This version of the traditional carol is rejigged with Newfoundlandia. As in, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a puffin playing by the sea.” The twopage spreads are three quarters simple text and full-colour illustration with a sidebar with a photograph of and information on the subject — Atlantic Puffins, Labrador tea dolls, the Norse, “five car-i-bouuuuu.” And it closes with the musical score set at the end.