Once Upon A Christmas Eve by Deborah J Barker

The Blurb

When past and present collide, tragedy results. Beatrice and Hannah, separated in years by 5 decades, are destined to meet one snowy Christmas Eve, in a remote, Devon barn. Does the Angel Clock control their destiny? As fate robs one of her sister and the other of a normal family life, they must work together to undo the past and right a wrong. How long it will take and whether it will be worth it in the end, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, their lives are changed for what could be forever.

About Deborah J Barker

Deborah J Barker was born a policeman’s daughter, in Essex, in 1956. Married with five children, she has lived in Hampshire for over 30 years with her husband and family and an assortment of dogs. Having published short stories in women’s magazines since the mid nineties, Deborah has also written a humorous, monthly column for an American magazine aimed at cat lovers, in the guise of her dog. Her Letters From Britain column was published online, by America Online, in the late nineties and developed into her current blog, Living Between the Lines which has observed life with a wry smile since 2010. Deborah's ambition was to live in a rambling house in the country overflowing with books, children and dogs and she believes she has achieved this. Once Upon A Christmas Eve is her debut novel.

My Review

It's that time of year when we turn to feel-good stories like 'A Christmas Carol,' Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life,' even the Griswold family in 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.' There are many more that we watch or read each year over and over again. They all strive to have the perfect Christmas, the perfect life, the dream we all aspire to ourselves. Isn't that what the Christmas spirit is all about. Deborah J Barker's debut novel encompasses all of the above and a whole lot more. Debut novelist she may be, but I am familiar with the author's writing, from her award winning blog, 'Living Between the Lines,' and I just knew this writer has an amazing ability to get into the head of other life-forms, as she did writing about her dogs, so she would have no difficulty living the lives of her main characters Hannah, Beatrice, Marjorie, and others, at ages ranging from birth to sixties, during different eras, 1943, 1963, 2000 and 2012. My reading experience can only be described as magical, and isn't that what we want at Christmas. I could quiet happily see myself re-reading this for Christmas's yet to come.