Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales [Hardcover]

Owen Parry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2002

A Union officer struggles homeward through a Christmas Eve snowstorm, haunted by loss and doubtful of the future. Paroled from a brutal prison camp, a young southern soldier yearns to find the one person he loves most in the world -- and worries over the devastation rumored to have reached his family's mountain. An immigrant private plans a startling Christmas surprise for his comrades. And a newly freed slave must choose between the desire for revenge and his longing to be a better man than his master . . .

From northern colliery towns to ruined Old South plantations and the divided loyalties of the Appalachian Mountains, Owen Parry casts his storyteller's spell with a collection of unforgettable tales celebrating the enduring spirit of Christmas. Moving from darkness toward the light in the grand tradition of holiday tales, these stories are bound to become classics of the American yuletide season. Whether whispering an old-fashioned Christmas ghost story or reminding us that not all who suffered war's losses wore uniforms, the author always leads us back to the joyous beauty -- the miracle -- of Christmas. Moving and heartfelt, Our Simple Gifts revives the tradition of Christmas tales for grown-ups.

As quietly as snow falls on holly, these Civil War Christmas tales will insist on being read again, year after year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The traditional lessons of Christmas are revisited in this set of four inspirational stories from novelist Parry, creator of the Abel Jones series of Civil War-era suspense stories (Honor's Kingdom, etc.). Here, Parry offers other perspectives on the tragic conflict. In "Star of Wonder," the widow of an Irish coal miner takes an injured, sick officer into her modest home during a blizzard. The wealthy officer finds his notions of the Irish turned upside down, and takes pleasure in returning her kindness. "Tannenbaum" features a German immigrant reminding his battle-weary fellows of the mystical power of the Christmas tree. A Confederate soldier dreams of his grandmother, who persuades him to reconcile with his Union-supporting father in "Nothing but a Kindness." Only when he returns home does the soldier realize that he's been visited by a ghost. "Christmas Gift" explores the theme of forgiveness as a newly freed slave feels sorrow for his fallen masters. These deeply Christian stories display the solid writing and period detail Parry is famous for, and are studded with acute observations of the era's stratifications and politics ("Yankees weren't the whipping kind any more than they seemed the praying kind," a freed slave observes as his plantation is being overrun by Union soldiers). However, they may strike his fans as too saccharine. Though Parry's previous books also have a religious influence (Abel Jones is a staunch Methodist), they're told with a touch of irony that's missing from this collection, which is unabashedly full of holiday sentimentality.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Parry, author of the popular Abel Jones Civil War mysteries, offers four heartfelt Christmas tales set amidst the spiritual and physical hardships of the Civil War era. Each short story stands alone as an uplifting tribute to the ultimate ascendancy of human decency and kindness during times of conflict. The author, a master of mid-nineteenth-century dialogue, delivers refreshingly old-fashioned messages of love, faith, and generosity couched in a variety of authentic dialects, as immigrants, emancipated slaves, Union soldiers, and Confederate loyalists are all respectfully represented. Steeped in history and goodwill, this Christmas treasury should enter the ranks of timeless holiday classics. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (October 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060013788
• ISBN-13: 978-0060013783
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short But Very Sweet, November 13, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Cragg (Springfield, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales (Hardcover)

I do not know enough about the current state of American letters to venture an educated opinion about where Mr. Owen Parry stands in comparison to his colleagues who are writing fiction today, but this slim volume of poetic prose is such good stuff that any author would be proud to have written it. I'm a writer too, so I'm cursed to know good writing when I see it, but I also know that no matter how hard I might try, I'll never be up to Mr. Parry's level. Well, that puts me into very good company with many so-called best-selling scribblers. These simple stories, told by a master, wonderfully evoke the joy of humanity at its best, and yet Mr. Parry writes with a steel pen: Reading these stories is like coming inside from the cold to a room with a blazing fire -- they warm you through and through and you're grateful for the respite they bring your soul, but your ears sting painfully from the howling wind outside. Ladies and gentlemen, not many can write like that.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Joy, October 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales (Hardcover)

This is a lovely, beautiful book. Author Owen Parry brings his trademark prose style to the short story form, making "Our Simple Gifts" a true gift to the reader. In four beautifully-crafted tales, set during the Civil War, Parry transports readers to that turbulent era and gives us a sense of how love and faith endure the strongest trials. Through Parry's graceful, lyrical prose the reader is moved by the lives of a maimed Union officer returning home, an immigrant soldier seeking to make sense of his new homeland, a newly-freed slave and a Confederate soldier just returning from a prison camp. With powerful atmosphere, vivid characters and a compelling message, this collection is bound to be a holiday classic. Parry is an American Dickens. A gift indeed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Christmas Carol, February 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales (Hardcover)

In his other persona, Owen Parry is a prominent retired army officer who writes brilliantly on national defense and strategy. It comes as a surprise, therefore, to find these gentle stories written by the same hand. This is fine historical fiction. Not only do the characters stay within their historical period - no distracting anachronisms here - but so does the writing. The stories are upbeat and completely ingenuous. They might not be cynical enough for modern tastes, so here is a test: if you enjoy A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, you will love this book. If your tastes run more toward Tim Burton's Christmas tale, you probably won't enjoy it, although you should read it anyway: it would be good for your head. No matter what your tastes, however, no one should miss the last story in the collection. It is not only the finest in the book, but a classic work which illustrates the human condition better than any other story written in the last 100 years. The protagonist is a newly freed slave who had been unspeakably abused by his "masters." Now the tide has turned, the men are dead in the war and the mistress of the house is on the verge of losing everything to the bank and about to be cast out with her retarded daughter. The simple act of Christian kindness which the slave shows toward the women brilliantly illustrates the evil of slavery and the importance of religion. This isn't Dickens; it's much much better than that.