Strike the Harp!: American Christmas Stories

These are the Christmas stories that should be read and taught.

Owen Parry has the rare ability to transport his readers from their armchair to the very place about which he is writing. I swear that I could smell the coal furnaces and the oil lamps, feel the wind, and the cold seeping up through my boots as I read his marvelous story of Christmas in the coalfields of Pennsylvania. He has this wonderful capacity to paint word pictures on the page that is unequaled. Read on in this collection, and I'll bet you can hear the voices of an orphans' choir as they sing "O, Tannenbaum" in a garrison town along the Rhine. Get this book for yourself to enjoy -- and several more for your family and friends. It's a wonderful, heartwarming collection.

Two years after his perfect holiday gift of OUR SIMPLE GIFTS, a collection of Civil War Christmas stories, Owen Parry offers up another treasure in STRIKE THE HARP! Venturing beyond the historical period for which he is best known through his series of Civil War novels, with this new collection of Christmas tales Parry proves that he is adept at capturing the heart and soul of any era. Taking us from the late 1800s to the end of World War I, from the eve of the Great Depression and then into the grip of those desperate years, and finally to 1960, each story is a shimmering facet of a perfect gem. A gem that celebrates quiet victories of the heart wherein the strength of sorrow is harnessed to climb back into the light; that shouts with delight over the invincible spirit of the scamp; that gently eases a child along in his understanding of father and family. Each story is complemented by an original poem and, given the lyricism of Parry's prose, it is no surprise that this superbly gifted writer has a talent for poetry also. STRIKE THE HARP! sings the soul of the Christmas season and is bound to fill you with wonder and joy.

When you're a child, you'll sometimes take a personal treat and hide it away to nibble at in bits and pieces savoring every taste and saving what you can for later hoping to draw out the experience as long as you might. And so it is with "Strike the Harp!" This is a book best hidden away and read in small bits with every word and turn of phrase allowed to work its magic. Hardbitten colonels blink into the falling snow, wiseguy Micks angle for a better life, waitresses acquire orphans, and small boys peer between the ranks of toy soldiers at the hard truths beyond. Once again Parry has produced a quietly moving collection of stories that would melt a heart of ice. A masterful mix of Charles Dickens, O. Henry, and Jean Shepherd in equal measure this is a marvelous piece of work to be treasured and shared for years to come. In case I haven't made it perfectly clear, this is great work. If fine literature is food for the soul, Owen Parry is a master chef and the fortunate reader is in for a literary feast.