As the holiday season lumbers through, with all its tinsel and lights and to-do lists as long as your arm, it’s good to be able to curl up with a holiday story or two.
Where Treetops Glisten by Tricia Geyer, Cara Putman, and Sarah Sundin, is a heartwarming trio of holiday stories set during World War Two. Each novella follows one of three siblings on their journey to find love. And who doesn’t love a bit of nostalgic love story at this time of the year?
Each story is titled after a Christmas song that was released that year. It strikes me that Christmas was very important to the hearts of people during that war, as that time produced such beautiful and classic Christmas music.
As you follow through each siblings story, following along year by year over the course of a total of five consecutive Christmas’s, including prologue and epilogue, you get a glimpse of life during a dark time in this country.
For some strange reason, stories set in this time period always seem brighter, and more hopeful, than others. Perhaps that is because, set up against the stark evil the world faced at the time, small, heartwarming, human stories become all the more tangible, all the more real, and all the more important.
I enjoyed each of these stories, and found that each character had a very specific lesson and story arc they needed to travel. Each character grew in their faith and understanding of God. Each character came to a new level of trust in God’s plan for their lives. For me, these elements are so important in a story. Christ chose to teach mostly through stories and I do really believe that this form of teaching is much more important than we often realize.
On a lighter side, it really is enjoyable to curl up with a warm story on a cold winter night, and these stories are very heartwarming. They aren’t as light-hearted as some Christmas stories can be, but not to heavy either. The very setting of a time of war demands a little more seriousness.
You can tell one of the authors lived in the hometown that is used, as the candy shop and other various aspects are very real on the page.
I was especially reflective as I read the third story, set near the frontlines in a field hospital. As our character worked to save lives it brings to mind all that our armed forces face every day. That story in particular had a strength in reminding you just what it means to lay down your life for others.
All in all this is a great book, and if you are looking for something to read this Christmas season I definitely recommend it. Especially if you like historical fiction placed during World War Two. It would make a great gift for the reader in your life as well!
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Joy Aletheia Stevens
I received this book for free to review from Blogging for Books. All opinions are my own.
This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon, for more about affiliate links and other policies please see my Discloser Page.
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