Christmas at Grandfather's House: a heart-warming novel in stories [Hardcover]

Mark Leever (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

If you have ever spent Christmas at your grandfather's house, Mark Leever will remind you of those unforgettable times and have you yearning for them again in this beguiling and profoundly moving book. Comprising six stories carefully connected by time (Christmas, 1985), place (the town of Wharton), theme, and character, Christmas at Grandfather's House is a holiday collection unlike any other: it unfolds like a novel. By turns comical, charming, and poignant, each story is a treasure of the heart, combining the childhood miracle that is Grandfather's house, with the miracle of Christmas that makes every one, and everyone who shares it, unique. A man who realizes the enduring value of family in his remembrance of a long-past Christmas Eve . . . A boy and his grandfather who try desperately to save an old woman's life with the most improbable medicine of all . . . A granddaughter who learns that love is expressed in many different ways . . . A woman who will do anything to help a husband being robbed of reality by age, and a man who will do whatever he must to remain in his wife's reality . . . A teenage boy who brightens an Emergency Room . . . And through it all, a town doctor who has devoted his life to the family and friends he loves, while harbouring a dark secret . . . a secret that at last comes to light on a snowy Christmas Day. Written from diverse points of view, Christmas at Grandfather's House weaves readers into that very special fabric of small town life, revealed through the eyes of grandsons and granddaughters, grandfathers and grandmothers, as they give and receive gifts far more precious than anything money can buy. Readers will never think of Christmas the same way again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Each holiday season seems to produce at least one noteworthy work of fiction. One that comes across with the right blend of heartstring pulling and seasonal pathos that the reader comes away from it feeling buoyed and with renewed faith in the season of joy. This year I hazard that book is Christmas at Grandfather's House by Mark Leever. The book collects six stories, all focused on the fictional town of Wharton. Each story focuses on one aspect of Christmas past or present but the thread that connects them -- beyond Christmas itself, of course -- is the reminder that the season is really about family, love and remembrance. -- Reviewed by Aaron Blanton -- Copyright 2007, January Magazine. All Rights Reserved --From January Magazine, januarymagazine.com

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon Hill Publishing; 1st edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978305906
• ISBN-13: 978-0978305901
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warm and Wonderful Read!, August 9, 2007

By 

Irene McKenzie (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas at Grandfather's House: a heart-warming novel in stories (Hardcover)

I've never spent much time in small towns, but novelist Mark Leever made me feel as though I had. Specifically Wharton, where reading this book makes it hard to believe it is a work of fiction since I now feel a part of all the families there and their Christmases past and present.

In the first story, Fine Thread, you are visiting your grandfather's house and you remember exactly what it was like to be 10 years old there at Christmas....30 years earlier.

Mary Ellen, despite her successful escape, takes us back to Wharton to face the ghosts of her past in The Wharton Echo.

In Snowflake, 12 year old Thomas Mullen and his grandfather lead us through a Christmas Eve in 1985 that turns magical and although we know "nothing lasts forever," we find that Christmas is a time for wishing and remembering and perhaps that is what lasts forever.

Seasons' Greeting is a great title for this wonderful story as indeed the seasons are plural!

Then there's my favourite character - lovable, comical Carlton, in Ninety Degrees who spends a riotous Christmas Eve at the hospital.

All the stories come together in a nice, neatly wrapped package in Christmas Day and throughout them all we see Dr. Glover.
Dr. Glover is just one of the reasons I love this book. In 1985 Dr. Glover had been the town's medical practitioner for 53 years. He is the connecting thread throughout all of the stories. He seemed to be at the grassroots of the small town and grew with it over the years, along with his expanding girth! But the good doctor is not without fault.

Christmas at Grandfather's House has a powerful, pleasing, all encompassing quality, brilliant in its ambiguity and now is sine qua non on my bookshelf! It brims with interesting characters, and they all make me feel that they are as real as the people in my own family.

As in the author's own words regarding snowflakes..."each precious gem carrying with it a simple but true promise of Christmas"....and so each of the tightly connected stories that make up Christmas at Grandfather's House are gems unto themselves with each story having its own unique theme: love, salvation, hope, forgiveness - to name a few - and the overall motif of the book culminates with a humanness all its own.

To see what happens to Dr. Glover, Tommie, Carlton, Mary Ellen and the rest of the people who love, live and breath in Christmas at Grandfather's House, you'll need to read the book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY AMAZING!, November 8, 2007

By 

Sandy L. Weber (Kennewick, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas at Grandfather's House: a heart-warming novel in stories (Hardcover)

This is without a doubt the most moving book I have ever read. It is also the cleverest. I am an avid reader, going through about one book a week. I thought I had seen everything until I read this book. It made me laugh, but mostly it made me cry with probably about a dozen incredibly touching moments sprinkled throughout. And when I thought it was just about done, the author didn't let me off the hook, shocking me to the very heart-wrenching core with a twist that I don't think even the slickest reader would see coming. (At least I didn't!) Mark Leever is now my favorite author. I hope there's a sequel!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Don't Have to be Christian to love this Christmas Book, December 22, 2008

By 

Arny Handelman (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas at Grandfather's House: a heart-warming novel in stories (Hardcover)

I'm Jewish and I loved this book. I was interested because when I was a kid, I lived for a short while at each of my grandparents house. Also, now I am a grandfather, and my grandchildren sometimes stay over for a few nights.

It is a heart-warming book, a feel-good book and it's perfect for the Christmas time of year. However, I know that I will pick it up at various times throughout the year to re-read sections. I have to admit that I like the format of several stories, rather than one long story--makes it easier to digest and savour.

Buy this as a gift, but by all means, by it for yourself. You'll love it.

Arny Handelman