A Christmas Beginning: A Novel (The Christmas Stories)
by Anne Perry
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anne PerryEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2007-10-30
ISBN: 0345485823
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of A Christmas Beginning: A Novel (The Christmas Stories)
Book Review: A beautiful little book by a great writer
Summary: 5 Stars
Anne Perry is a master of writing historical fiction and historical whodunits. She is the author of two series set in Victorian England and five World War I novels. But she has also written five short novels set at Christmastide, the latest being A CHRISTMAS BEGINNING.
Fans will not be disappointed. A CHRISTMAS BEGINNINGstars a supporting character of the William Monk series, Superintendent Runcorn of the London Metropolitan Police. Besides being a first-rate mystery in the "cozy" genre, it is also a riveting psychological portrait of a man alone.
Runcorn travels to the Isle of Anglesey off the north coast of Wales. This isolated island, Perry writes, "must be the loneliest place in Britain, all bare hills and bright water, and silent except for the moan of the wind in the grass."
This perfectly describes Runcorn's life as well: "Runcorn had nowhere else in particular to be for Christmas, no family. He lived alone. He knew many people, but they were colleagues rather than friends." In Victorian England, where class rules everything, Runcorn knows that he is simply a functionary of the ruling class. He has accepted his lot in life so far. After all, and most tellingly, "he was not a gentleman."
But at the age of 50, Runcorn is beginning to have doubts. So he goes on leave for several weeks and decides to go to Anglesey to "take long walks in the open, think deeply for a change." But during one of these "empty days" a sort of ghost of Christmas past appears before him when he encounters an upper-class gentleman he had unpleasant dealings with during a homicide case in London.
Runcorn immediately remembers the man's younger sister, Melisande. He wonders if she is also on the island and thinks, "Did she still look the same? Was the curve of her hair as soft? The way she smiled and the sadness in her had continued to haunt him in the year since they'd last met."
Runcorn then sees the young woman in church, and she smiles at him. Perry writes, "He could feel it burn inside him." But alas, they are of different classes. Melisande was a lady born and bred; a mere policeman had no reason even to speak to her socially.
Fate intervenes when, during an early morning walk, Runcorn stumbles across the body of another beautiful young woman, Olivia, the younger unmarried sister of the vicar, in the graveyard. Olivia has been stabbed to death in the stomach. Murders never occur here; that crime is for the grimy underworld of Runcorn's London. The closed, upper-class society of the island is thrown into a panic. The constable is out of his depth, so Runcorn is asked to help with the initial investigation.
Runcorn learns that the dead girl was "difficult." That means she was a free spirit, a dreamer, unwilling to marry the appropriate suitor of her class. This made her an economic burden on her brother, the vicar, who must provide for her.
Before Runcorn gets very far into his inquiries, the Chief Constable of the County, Sir Alan Faraday, arrives on the island to take charge of the investigation. It turns out that Sir Alan is soon to be engaged to Melisande. This news throws Runcorn into an unexpected emotional tailspin. Writes Perry: "He had always been a practical man, the whole notion of dreams was new to him. He had reconciled himself to a solitary life, his friendships and his time were absorbed into his increasingly demanding work. Now he was torn apart by impossible dreams. How could he criticize Olivia for similar longings?"
In his mind, Runcorn begins to link the murdered girl to Melisande. Is she in danger? Does Faraday really love her? Will he nurture her dreams and ease her sadness? He is tortured by the thought that as a policeman, "On his salary he could not keep a woman like Melisande for a month, let alone a lifetime. It was not only social class that divided them, or experience and beliefs --- it was money and all it could buy, the comforts that a woman of Melisande's background accepted without even noticing them."
As he digs deeper into Olivia's life and death, Runcorn knows that the secrets of sex and scandal he uncovers will make him even more despised by the upper class, who, in their homes, have portraits on the walls of their Cavalier ancestors dating back to the British Civil War. And what if what he unearths inadvertently hurts Melisande?
Runcorn must still do his job and seek the truth, but now his life has been altered forever by a woman he barely knows. For the first time he has to follow his own personal truth. Perry writes, "Did it take the face of one woman to stir a man deeply enough to abandon comfort and follow impossible dreams into the cold infinity?"
For what is Christmas but the most impossible dream of them all --- the dream of peace on earth and goodwill among men. Christmas is a time of light and hope in a world of infinite darkness and despair. Christmas is redemption. For Superintendent Runcorn, this Christmas will mark his new awakening.
A CHRISTMAS BEGINNING is a beautiful little book by a great writer at the top of her game. Nobody writes about the waning days of Victorian England as well as Anne Perry. She chronicles the conflicts caused by class and wealth in the period before the birth of the modern world in the 20th century.
In an age of fear and uncertainty and the uber-commercialization of Christmas, A CHRISTMAS BEGINNING reminds us that, in the final analysis, it is still all about love and hope. This is an uplifting story not just for the holiday season but for all seasons.
--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan
Summary of A Christmas Beginning: A Novel (The Christmas Stories)
Whatever the season, a new novel by bestselling author Anne Perry is always a wonderful gift, but her holiday novels are particularly special treats, and A Christmas Beginning is a deeply felt story of passion and redemption.Superintendent Runcorn of Scotland Yard is spending Christmas on the wild and beautiful island of Anglesey off the north coast of Wales. On one of his solitary strolls, the lonely bachelor stumbles upon a lifeless body in the village churchyard. The unfortunate victim is quickly identified as Olivia Costain, the local vicar?s younger sister.
In life, Olivia had been a free spirit, full of charm and grace. For Runcorn, she is a haunting reminder of Melisande Ewart, the one woman he?s never been able to forget. Everyone on Anglesey is quick to insist that only a stranger to the island could have committed the heinous crime. But the evidence proves otherwise, and the unpopular work of discovering who among Olivia?s friends and neighbors?and numerous eligible suitors?is a ruthless killer falls to Runcorn. A plebian outsider in the drawing rooms of the snobbish local gentry, Runcorn never dreams that the key that will unlock the secrets of Olivia?s life and death may also, miraculously, open the door to a new future for himself.
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