Betty Kowalski is going to be alone for the holidays this year, and is consequently lacking the Christmas spirit. Her neighbor, Jack Jones, is a strange, rude, solitary man who also appears to be a DIY fanatic, hammering away even at night and tossing out unwanted items into his yard. Could he be on the run? Growing drugs or making bombs? Now it looks as though he is even cruel to animals, neglecting his poor dog to the extent that it wants to spend time with Betty. Then Avery, Betty’s granddaughter, turns up out of the blue...

There is nothing like a gentle, inspiring tale like this to warm and cheer at Christmas. Betty and her friends are keen to jump to conclusions about Jack without bothering to discover more, and Avery’s problems with her mother will strike a chord with just about every reader. What they need is a miracle, and how it happens makes you remember what the holidays are truly all about when stripped bare of their commercial trappings and familial one-upmanship. It is not a long story—just the right length—and is nicely filled with all the things a reader hopes to find in such a novel. Cheering and uplifting, this is the ideal read to take time out with among the preparations.