Christmas in Calico [Hardcover]

Jack Curtis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1998

Distinguished writer Jack Curtis winningly combines suspense and a timeless holiday message with the best Western literary tradition in this dramatic novel. Heavy with child, Rose Cameron and her delicate son, Tommy, have tried to carry on her late husband's dream of a successful horse ranch despite a long drought, a thieving hired hand, and neighbors who want her land. But the hardest ordeal of all happens during Christmas, when a winter-kill blizzard sweeps the Nevada prairie, forcing Rose and Tommy to seek refuge in the poor town of Calico, where they must depend on the kindness of desperate strangers-and one mysterious lone rider-to survive and restore their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A veteran writer of TV westerns and 18 previous novels, Curtis (The Kloochman) sets this appealing blend of the nativity story and Dickens's A Christmas Carol in a Nevada landscape about 100 years ago. Brave and feisty widow Rose Cameron ("her face honest as a looking glass") leaves her failing ranch in a howling blizzard to find medical attention for her sick son, Tommy. Ever since her husband died eight months ago, Rose has been trying to keep the Circle C ranch solvent, but a severe drought has depressed the region, drying up everyone's land, money and the milk of human kindness. Rather than offer their assistance, the predatory ranchers whose acreage abuts the Circle C have done their best to cheat Rose and hasten foreclosure. When Rose and Tommy arrive in the nearby town of Calico, they are refused shelter by the hardhearted banker, hotel owner and pastor; only the denizens of shacktown offer food, a room and hospitality. Then banker Max Gotch convinces desperate Rose to sign away her rights to the ranch. All seems lostAbut wait! Joel Reese, a cowhand and drifter with "honest eyes and courteous virility" will be Rose's savior. Curtis stacks his cards blatantly and herds stereotypes into the narrative: the prostitute with a heart of gold; the Scrooge-like banker who has a vision and miraculously changes his ways; the baby born on Christmas Eve. But his sentimental story gains color from homespun dialogue rendered with a Western twang, and its earnest message of compassion for the less fortunate gives his predictable plot a satisfying holiday moral. $35,000 ad/promo. Agent, Mildred Marmur. (Nov.) FYI: Rodale is issuing Christmas in Calico as its first book of fiction.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A pregnant widow and her sick son. A banker threatening to foreclose on the widow's loan. Unfriendly neighbors who want her land. A tall, dark stranger on a black stallion. Novelist and Emmy-nominated scriptwriter (for Gunsmoke) Curtis combines all the elements of a classic Western into a Christmas story.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Daybreak Books; 1st edition (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875965431
• ISBN-13: 978-0875965437
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,221,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christmas is Calico is a sweet story!, September 6, 2006

By 

Little 'ol Me! "MeMe" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas in Calico (Hardcover)

How could a woman not love this story!!! It's very sweet and shows how 'love' is often at first sight -(how we sum up a guy we like in 3 minutes), and also, how setting a good example can bring out the best in others. I very much liked this story, but I always like happy endings (and a sweet romance doesn't hurt a bit!). Thanks, Jack!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHRISTMAS IN CALICO, November 24, 2010

By 

Scot McColl (Lenoir, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christmas in Calico (Hardcover)

This book is small and the story relatively short, but it has great impact - reminds me of a town called Wilmington, OH
where 7,000 people were laid off when a factory closed. The town of Calico needs redemption and the people need
to pull together - but there is much more to the story - love, hate, jealousy, sickness, tolerance, sharing, joy,
and much more - the characters are well written and their actions in line with their "life style" - enjoyed it very much
and will try to find more books by the author! Jack Curtis is an exceptional writer, for sure.
I was not impressed with the movie THE SECRET OF GIVING that is based on this book - the
writers changed the story almost completely and lost the real meaning of Jack Curtis' book.
I would like to see a movie made on the book itself.