A Marriage Carol [Hardcover]

Chris Fabry (Author), Gary D. Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2011

On Christmas Eve twenty years earlier, Marlee and Jacob were married in a snowstorm. This Christmas Eve, they are ready to quit, divorce is imminent. Their relationship is as icy as the road they're traveling and as blocked with troubles as the piling snow. They take a shortcut to get to the lawyer's office, on a slippery, no-fault path. She thinks they need to stay on the main road. He disagrees. They fight. Story of their lives and they slam into a bank of snow , spinning, drifting, falling, out of control. Just like their lives. Reluctantly, freezing cold, hungry, scared, she trudges up the hill. Jacob is nowhere to be found. Her ears frozen, fingers and hands red, she comes to a house on the hillside, built like a Bed and Breakfast, a green wreath on the red door and the door-knocker is in the shape of a wedding ring.The red door opens and the first thing she notices is the fire in the room, blazing hot, a warm, inviting, friendly place and the voice of an old man welcomes her in. There are three golden pots on the hearth, shining, glimmering things. The old man claims that they are used to restore marriages. She laughs¿and begins a journey through her past, present, and future that will test how she views her lifelong love. There are two futures available. Which will she choose'

Editorial Reviews

Review

Publishers Weekly Review

 

Christmas Eve marks Jacob and Marlee Ebenezer’s wedding anniversary and, 20 years later, the official dissolution of their marriage. Their journey to sign the divorce papers, however, turns into much more when a blizzard and an accident threaten lives. Marlee finds safety in a farmhouse where “Jay” helps her see her past, present, and future and offers a new way of seeing herself, husband, and marriage. The authors seamlessly blend the cleansing qualities of snow (“Melting snow exposes. Each flake is like a choice we make”) with transparent reference to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol to create a challenging yet heartwarming tale that will touch readers long beyond the holiday season. This novella—combining the storytelling prowess of Fabry (Almost Heaven) and the marriage expertise of Chapman (The Five Love Languages series)—will change lives with its message “that there is great power in small choices.” Chapman’s afterword and discussion questions deepen the impact. This is a tiny book with a huge message. (Sept.)—Publishers Weekly, July 20, 2011.

 

About the Author

CHRIS FABRY is a graduate of W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University and Moody bible Institute's Advanced Studies Program. Chris can be heard daily on Love Worth Finding, featuring the teaching of the late Dr. Adrian Rogers. He received the 2008 "Talk Personality of the Year" Award from the National Religious Broadcasters. He has published more than 60 books since 1995, many of them fiction for younger readers. Chris collaborated with Jerry B. Jenkins and Dr. Tim LaHaye on the children's series Left Behind: The Kids. His two novels for adults, Dogwood and June Bug, are published by Tyndale House Publishers. Chris is married to his wife Andrea and they have five daughters and four sons.

GARY CHAPMAN, PhD, is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The 5 Love Languages. With over 30 years of counseling experience, he has the uncanny ability to hold a mirror up to human behavior, showing readers not just where they go wrong, but also how to grow and move forward. Dr. Chapman holds BA and MA degrees in anthropology from Wheaton College and Wake Forest University, respectively, MRE and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has completed postgraduate work at the University of North Carolina and Duke University. For more information visit his website at www.5lovelanguages.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (September 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080240264X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802402646
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thanks for stopping by my Amazon page. The new book is out, Not in the Heart. It's what I consider my most riveting, suspenseful, and yet relational book yet. A mystery within a mystery within an addiction. I dedicate this to all who have someone in their life who is addicted.

I was born in West Virginia in 1961. I read a lot, but not very fast, and wrote poems, songs, and transcribed Marx Brothers movies and memorized dialogue.

In 1984 I met Jerry Jenkins at Moody Bible Institute. He offered to help me learn to write and I took him up on the offer. In 1998, Jerry and Dr. Tim LaHaye hired me to help write the Left Behind: The Kids series. After that I worked on several other series for children and then published my first adult novel in 2008. It took more than six years to write Dogwood and find a publisher. It received a 2009 Christy Award.

My next novel, June Bug, drew its themes from the classic Victor Hugo tale, Les Miserables. Then, Almost Heaven released and also won a couple of awards.

In addition to my fiction, I have also collaborated on a couple of best-selling football biographies with Ohio State's Jim Tressel and, most recently, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.

I graduated from the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. I have been married to Andrea since 1982. We have nine children. In October of 2008, our family evacuated our house in Colorado, leaving behind all our belongings because of a toxic mold exposure. Since then we have been living near Tucson, AZ in order to get medical help for the mold exposure.

Stop by my website at www.chrisfabry.com to learn more about my writing and radio endeavors, and be sure to sign up for my e-newsletter, the FABRYGRAM. I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, or you can e-mail me at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic life story!, October 1, 2011

By 

Trinity Rose "book lover" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Marriage Carol (Hardcover)

My first Christmas book this year and it was so worth reading. A Marriage Carol is such a incredible, little book and I love it. I read it in only a few hours, it wouldn`t have taken that long if I didn`t have to interrupt my reading to get things done.
A Marriage Carol takes a few sentences and has some of the same plots as the famous book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
They are on their way to town to get a divorce and end up in a ditch. The next things they go through causes Marlee and Jacob to really think about what their life really is about and how they need, want to look at all parts of it.
This book gives a person hope that everything isn't lost and you always can try again. How we need to really put our spouses ahead of us and think of what they are feeling. How God made marriage and he wants us to keep working at it.
I love the way the book brought about the feelings and heartaches of this couple. How one choice changes a life. How everything can work out if we just have hope and work very hard.
This little book is really worth buying and keeping to read many times over. I know this book will be a winner of many awards. Highly recommending A Marriage Carol for one and all. Deserves much over five stars. Buy this book for yourself as a Christmas present. It'll be the best present you have ever bought.

Thank you to Moody Publishers for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Story - Maybe Its Your Story, December 25, 2011

By 

Upstate New York Reader (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Marriage Carol (Hardcover)

I have long been impressed with Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. I first read it when my own marriage was going through struggles - and it contributed to the healing that my wife and I experienced 20 years ago. Earlier this year I was privileged to read an Advanced Copy of Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett. Bennett's book was a retelling of the original story. A Marriage Carol may best be described as a parallel narrative.

Jacob and Marlee's marriage was at an end. They both knew it. They had not yet told the kids, but today was to be the end. They were due at the lawyer's office to sign the papers for a no-fault divorce. It was time, but the weather would not cooperate. To save time they take a shortcut that leads to the accident.

In the hours that follow as Marlee finds help and looks for her husband, she is also faced with her own life - her life as it was, her life as it is, and her life as it might be. It was a long night - a night that did not end the way she had expected. On the other hand ... well, you will need to read the book to find out about that other hand.

As Marlee writes, in the first person, "... it is a dangerous thing to have your eyes opened. It is dangerous to see. It is dangerous to love ... There is no barren place on earth that love cannot grow a garden. Not even your heart."

A Marriage Carol may be written as fiction, but it is not fiction. It is my story, it is my wife's story. But not ours alone - it is many stories of people who have found themselves hurt, lost, and confused. And, just as my wife and I discovered, it is a story that offers hope. It was hope that Dickens offered in 1843 when he wrote the original; it still offers hope for us today.

This review is based a free electronic copy of the book supplied by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fire And Snow Lead To Changes In A Marriage, December 9, 2011

By 

Grapes (Southeast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Marriage Carol (Kindle Edition)

MOODY PUB. KINDLE It is Christmas time. In most home this time of the year is the most joyous time of the year. However, Marlee and Jacob, a couple with older children, aren't happy. As a matter of fact, they are traveling through the snow to reach a divorce lawyer. Both have decided that there marriage is on the rocks. They have gone to retreats, marriage councilors, ministers. Nothing has worked. Little do they realize that a car wreck in the snow will lead to the beginning of new changes in their life. I liked the magical element in the novel. Marlee's stirring snow in a pan over a fire until it melts in this enchanted cozy home allows her to see her past roll before her like a movie. "So, my husband has shown you the power of snow." The novella, A Marriage Carol by CHRIS FABRY & GARY CHAPMAN filled me with hope for all broken relationships. "There is no barren place on earth that love cannot grow a garden. Not even your heart." I also realized that strangers can give us insight into how to improve our lives. I guess a glance from afar is better, at times, than a binocular closeup view from a personal window.