An Orange from Portugal: Christmas Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland [Paperback]

Anne Simpson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2003

It’s often said that the main export of the Maritimes is Maritimers, and the same is true of Newfoundland. “Going down the road” is a way of life, but so is coming home for Christmas. It is tradition marked by happiness, fun, and sometimes less comfortable emotions. Given the regional penchant for yarn spinning, this common experience yields an abundance of stories. In An Orange from Portugal, editor Anne Simpson takes liberties with the concept of “story” to produce a book bursting with Christmas flavour. Many of her choices are fiction, others are memoirs, tall tales, poems, or essays, and still others defy classification. Some authors are nationally and even internationally famous, some are well known in the region, and others are published here for the first time. Spanning more than a century of seasonal writing, the collection includes a description of killing a pig aboard the sailing ship Argonauta for Christmas dinner; Hugh MacLennan’s Halifax waif who wants nothing more than for Santa to bring him a real orange, an orange from Portugal; a story by Alden Nowlan and another by Harry Bruce giving very different versions of what the animals in the barn do on Christmas Eve; a story about Jewish children hanging up their stockings; and very new work by young writers Lisa Moore and Michael Crummey. Beautiful poems by Lynn Davies, Milton Acorn and others leaven the collection for readers of all persuasions. Other authors include: Wayne Johnston, Mary Pratt, David Adams Richards, Carol Bruneau, Wilfred Grenfeld, L.M. Montgomery, Paul Bowdring, Grace Ladd, Herb Curtis, Joan Clark, Ernest Buckler, Rhoda Graser, Bert Batstone, Elisabeth Harvor, David Weale, Charles G.D. Roberts, Ronald F. Hawkins, Mark Jarman, Elsie Charles Basque, Richard Cumyn, Herménégilde Chiasson, Stan Dragland, Alistair MacLeod and Bernice Morgan. An Orange from Portugal is a Christmas feast, with the scent of turkey and the sound of laughter wafting from the kitchen, and a flurry of snow outside the window.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Like a genuine Down-East Christmas, An Orange from Portugal is tangy and delicious. Novelty spices tradition, shadows make joy more precious, and laughter is everywhere. Here are stories to savour. Hugh MacLennan’s waif hopes Santa will bring him a real orange from Portugal, Alden Nowlan and Harry Bruce give very different versions of the magical transformations in the barn on Christmas Eve, and Rhoda Graser recalls Jewish children hanging up their stockings. Wilfred Grenfell, Bernice Morgan, and Wayne Johnston host a century of parties. Offerings by Alistair MacLeod and David Adams Richards, Joan Clark, and Lisa Moore, Milton Acorn and Lynn Davies make An Orange from Portugal a rare Christmas feast.

About the Author

Anne Simpson is one of Canada’s rising stars. Her story “Dreaming Snow” won the Journey Prize, and her first novel, Canterbury Beach, was a finalist for the Chapters/Robertson Davies Prize and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her first poetry collection, Light Falls Through You, won the Atlantic Poetry Prize and the Gerald Lampert Award and was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award; her second, collection, Loop, has just been published. After spending a year as writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, she has returned to her home in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions; No edition edition (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864923457
• ISBN-13: 978-0864923455
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,803,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Read-Aloud fan likes the title story, December 15, 2006

By 

Avon (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Orange from Portugal: Christmas Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland (Paperback)

I do not know this book - only the title story. But that is a treasure.

As to the entire book, the publisher says:

Imagine biting into a juicy orange: it's sweet, thirst-quenching, and delicious. Now imagine a poor young boy in Halifax receiving an orange from Portugal when such a gift was an exotic possibility, something about which he talked and dreamed for many days before Christmas. An Orange from Portugal is full of such magic. Stockings without holes, the hushed beauty of a winter morning, two very different takes on what the animals really do in the barn on Christmas Eve--these are among the 30-odd tales Anne Simpson has selected for the third in Goose Lane's beloved series of Christmas anthologies.

As to the title story, I must say it's only 10 pages long - but it evokes a classic Christmas story in its evocative writing and sweet moral. The mood is like "Gift of the Magi", E.B. White, or "A Child's Christmas in Wales", the narrative being a first-person recollection from childhood. It reflects an elder sibling's self-consciousness at knowing how the hard realities of life impinge on Christmas, and that same child's renewed sense of wonder at life's mysteries and awe at the generosity of human spirit. Last week, it successfully drew my audience of 85 teenagers into the world of a gritty 1940s New Brunswick seaport, using the beauty of well-crafted language to suspend disbelief and paint an image that made us all forget we were thoroughly modern and "privileged" American listeners.

I'd give a 5-star rating, but it would be unfair since I haven't seen the other 95% of this book. (Reviews without ratings are auto-blocked here.)