Helpful Score: 1
A Christmas Promise by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry,is an engaging mystery set in Victorian England involving two children searching for a lost donkey. The donkey belonged to the younger girl's Uncle, who died recently under suspicious circumstances. The girls quickly become entangled in a situation which becomes increasingly more dangerous. I enjoyed the book and felt that it would be equally appropriate for an adult who likes books written for and about children, and for young readers ages 9 and up. I give it 3 stars.
Helpful Score: 1
I didn't realize till well into the story that this is set before Gracie Phipps came to work for Thomas & Charlotte Pitt as their maid. Thirteen-year-old Gracie meets an 8-year-old girl in the market looking for a lost donkey. Her Uncle Alf has died and his cart and the donkey are missing. Reluctantly Gracie helps her as she realizes that the stubborn child will continue to search on her own and is too young to get very far. But it becomes apparent that Uncle Alf was killed and the cart taken for unknown reasons - and if the girls continue to ask questions, they may very well be in danger too. It's a much better story than the previous one in the series, and though these Christmas tales lack substance, the rich atmosphere of Perry's Victorian writing is always an interesting world to return to.
Helpful Score: 1
All of Anne Perry's Christmas stories are wonderful! They are heart-warming stories of hope, love and friendship. This is a delightful book of two young children, one 13 and the other 8 years old, Minnie Maude Mudway, who is bound and determined to find her friend, Charlie...a donkey. It is a great book, hard to put down but filled with hope and friendship. You will love it!
Beautiful Gift copy.
A few days before Christmas, 13-year-old Gracie Phillips comes across 8 year-old Minnie Maude Mudway standing in the cold. Her uncle, a rag and bone man, was found dead in the street with his cart and Charlie, the mule, missing. Gracie starts out by promising to help her find Charlie, but goes on to help her find out who killed her uncle.
Anne Perry's Christmas books are wonderful gifts to her readers and always feature one of the secondary characters of her series. A young, pre-Pitt family, Gracie takes center stage yet even at this young age, you see her grit, determination and indomitable spirit. She is determined that she'll learn to read and improve her life, but doesn't let her lack of skill stop her. Yet I so agree with the wonderful, slightly mysterious, Mr. Balthasar when he states, "...Everyone should read. There is a whole magical world waiting for you, people to meet and places to go, flights of the mid and the heart you can't even imagine."
Speaking of places to go, the sense of time and place is one of the things I most admire in Ms. Perry's writing. You feel the cold wind and see the dirty alleys, but also the wreaths on the doors and the lights. The dialogue is written in dialect, which took me a bit to get on to, but I quickly forgot it was even there.
Lest you think this is a light Christmas story; it's not. This is not the London of drawing rooms, but of back alleys, the poor, desperate and hungry. There is fear and cruelty and a mystery with tension, suspense and a wonderful ending.
A few days before Christmas, 13-year-old Gracie Phillips comes across 8 year-old Minnie Maude Mudway standing in the cold. Her uncle, a rag and bone man, was found dead in the street with his cart and Charlie, the mule, missing. Gracie starts out by promising to help her find Charlie, but goes on to help her find out who killed her uncle.
Anne Perry's Christmas books are wonderful gifts to her readers and always feature one of the secondary characters of her series. A young, pre-Pitt family, Gracie takes center stage yet even at this young age, you see her grit, determination and indomitable spirit. She is determined that she'll learn to read and improve her life, but doesn't let her lack of skill stop her. Yet I so agree with the wonderful, slightly mysterious, Mr. Balthasar when he states, "...Everyone should read. There is a whole magical world waiting for you, people to meet and places to go, flights of the mid and the heart you can't even imagine."
Speaking of places to go, the sense of time and place is one of the things I most admire in Ms. Perry's writing. You feel the cold wind and see the dirty alleys, but also the wreaths on the doors and the lights. The dialogue is written in dialect, which took me a bit to get on to, but I quickly forgot it was even there.
Lest you think this is a light Christmas story; it's not. This is not the London of drawing rooms, but of back alleys, the poor, desperate and hungry. There is fear and cruelty and a mystery with tension, suspense and a wonderful ending.
