Chronicle Book Club

West Columbia author Ralph Jarrells shares his love of the Christmas season with a recommendation that you celebrate Christ’s birthday by reading “The Christmas Shoes,” one of bestselling Southern author Donna VanLiere’s novels, many of which have been made into movies.

Igot married 3 years ago after 15 or so years of living single. My new wife Sybil had been single for a while, and she brought with her some of her “ways.”

So did I. Compromise is the secret to all marriages, and relationships, for that matter.

One of Sybil’s ways was her Christmas routine – watching about 20 Christmas movies over and over again each year and reading about a dozen books over and over each year. I have come to enjoy this “way” of celebrating Christmas.

“The Christmas Shoes” is the 1st story of Donna VanLiere’s 9-volume series, Christmas Hope.

It would be easy to say “The Christmas Shoes” is a “sappy chick” exploitation book if, as a guy, you don’t want to face some of the issues that men go through.

When a pair of shoes enter attorney Robert Layton’s life, it could be called serendipity. But, as the story develops, it would seem to be God’s Plan.

Layton is an ambitious lawyer, a junior member of a law firm in which he is striving to become a partner. His single-focus ambition makes him an absent husband and father, a fact that Kate, his wife, is very vocal about.

Layton is a character who is hard to like, especially when he misses his daughters Christmas music program.

Layton is doing more and more at the law firm which results in less and less with his family.

In contrast, Robert Andrews is an automobile mechanic whose income is a day to day thing as he is barely making ends meet.

He is living on the “other side of the tracks,” from Layton, with his wife Maggie and his son Nathan. Maggie is told she is dying from cancer. Nathan’s family is dealing with his mother’s impending death at Christmas time.

For an author, dealing with the range of emotions caused by death can be a difficult thing.

In “The Christmas Shoes,” VanLiere treats Maggie’s dying with her acceptance and her focus of her family.

Nathan wants to give his mother a special gift for Christmas. Layton is buying a last minute gift for Kate.

Nathan and Layton meet at the store at closing time. Nathan selects the gift and is a few dollars short. He is heartbroken. Layton pays the difference.

Even though the end of the story is predictable, the closing in the cemetery seems live-affirming.

The story is a “look in a mirror” for most men.

VanLiere has managed to connect with the core dilemma that faces men – how do you provide for your family and spend time with them at the same time?

About the author

Donna VanLiere lives in Franklin, TN, with her husband, Troy, and their children, Grace, Kate and David.

She is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and gifted conference speaker. She has published 20 books including and Neil Patrick Harris. The movies garnered big ratings for CBS television.

Lifetime Television adapted “The Christmas Hope” starring Madeline Stow) and premiered it December 2009 to stellar ratings as well.

Donna’s non-seasonal novel, “The Angels of Morgan Hill,” has captured the same warmth as her Christmas books and continues to please new and loyal fans alike.

Donna is the recipient of a Retailer’s Choice Award for Fiction, a Dove Award, a Silver Angel Award, an Audie Award for best inspirational fiction, a nominee for a Gold Medallion Book of the Year and was recently inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence joining such luminaries as Coretta Scott King, Hugh Downs, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Sen. John Glenn.

Donna is an in-demand conference speaker having appeared at countless women’s and family events, including select Women of Faith and Extraordinary Women conferences.

The Library Journal says of Donna’s latest book, “The Christmas Star” (2018), “Second chances abound in this story, resulting in a Christmas gift worth waiting for... This sweet tale of love and overcoming obstacles offers a festive atmosphere readers will savor.”

Author Ralph Jarrell’s new book on the life of pirate Anne Bonny, “Fiery Red Hair, Emerald Green Eyes and a Vicious Irish Temper: The Absolutely True Story of the World’s First Female Pirate,” is available at Amazon.com .