Customer Reviews

An Orange from Portugal: Christmas Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland

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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.)