"Snow"

Snow by Calvin Miller

This short novel takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 1929, in Pennsylvania. It's a fairly typical holiday story, with a poor young widow, a sick child, and a kind young man who comes to their rescue, but there is another layer to the plot with broken relationships in the hero's family. His brother and father parted ways years ago when the father kicked the brother out of the family home. Of course one story gets tangled up in the other and all problems are solved and everybody is happy in time for Christmas dinner.

Predictable? Yes. But aren't they all? I usually read a couple of stories like this during the Christmas season when I'm in a more sentimental frame of mind. Unfortunately that's not now and "Snow" fell flat for me. It was all just a little too perfect.

I've been a Calvin Miller fan for a long time; I loved his "Singer Trilogy" and have had the privilege of hearing him speak several times. I was saddened to read of his passing just a few weeks ago. He was a man of character and imagination and the world is a better place for having had him in it.

Because I like the authour I wish I had a lot of good things to say about his book. Regrettably I can only recommend reading it when you're in that emotional zone just before Christmas when we all think "It's A Wonderful Life" is a great film, that lovely time of year when everybody likes everybody else, even the people they don't like. In that setting it could be charming, but right now I just find it cloyingly sweet.