An Irish Christmas- Melody Carlson
The Christmas Bus Author Returns with a Mother and Son Holiday Story
A trip to Ireland sets the scene for a mother and son to each reveal a secret, changing both of their lives in the process.
It's 1963, and Jamie Frederick has returned home to Pasadena, CA, from college and revealed to his mother that he actually dropped out of college. He had been attending business school in San Francisco at his parents' insistence, with the idea that he'd inherit the family shoe business. They had even been paying his way. However, he was instead spending his time pursuing his musical interests, and teaching himself how to play the piano.
When he returns home, he spends hours secretly practicing on an old piano his family had in a storage warehouse for the shoe business. When he finally tells his mother the truth, she is harder on him that he ever expected. She storms away, and an hour later returns to tell Jamie that she has made arrangements for them to spend the impending Christmas holiday together in Ireland.
Irish Secrets
As it turns out, Colleen Frederick has a secret as well. After she and her son have spent a few days in Ireland taking in the sights and sounds of a place Colleen has always wanted to visit, she reveals her secret to Jamie. She tells him that Hal, her husband, who died of a heart attack a couple of years ago, was not actually his father. Jamie's biological father was an Irish American named Liam whom she met right before he shipped out to fight in the Vietnam War.
After he left, she discovered she was pregnant but was unable to get in touch with him. When she took a job at a shoe store, the owner, Hal, saw that she was "in trouble" and proposed. She spent her life attending to him and being the good wife, but never felt as smitten with him; her one true love had been Liam and she had lost him. She and Hal raised Jamie as if they were both his biological parents, and vowed never to tell him otherwise.
But after Hal dies of a heart attack, Colleen feels it's time to tell her son the truth. Colleen and Jamie spend the rest of the trip coming to terms with their own secrets and betrayals, and learning how to accept their new relationship.
About the Author
Melody Carlson is the best selling author of more than 200 books, including The Christmas Bus and My Son, the Savior. She lives with her husband in Sisters, Oregon.
Carlson, Melody
An Irish Christmas
New York, Revell, September 1, 2007
