The Hired Man's Christmas

by Givens, George

• ISBN13: 9780684856162
• ISBN10: 0684856166
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-11-01
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

In the tradition of Christmas memoirs such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and A Christmas Memory, The Hired Man's Christmas is the story of how the events of two Christmas Eves brought George Givens from boyhood into manhood. Every summer a mysterious man known only as "Frank" arrives to help George Givens's grandfather with his farmwork. No one knows the hired man's last name, where he comes from, or why he always seems to be so sad. Once the season's crops are harvested, he disappears only to reappear the following summer. This routine continues for many years -- until one fateful Christmas Eve. The hired man never returns to the Givens farm after that day, and the mystery of his final disappearance seems destined to remain unsolved. Then, on Christmas Eve many years later, George serendipitously discovers the long-lost hired man's fate. This discovery teaches him a powerful lesson about the importance of family and the endurance of love. The Hired Man's Christmas is a story of simpler times, but its message resonates across the years and in the hearts of fathers and sons even today.

Author Biography

George Givens has been a bookseller for twenty years and for the last five years he has hosted a weekly book review segment on Good Morning Virginia. He is the author of In Old Nauvoo, a social history of the city from which the Mormons were driven West into exile. He lives in Forest, Virginia.

Table of Contents

I Frank	13	(18)
II Christmas at Bah's	31	(10)
III Christmas Mystery	41	(14)
IV Curmudgeon	55	(16)
V Lost and Found	71	(16)
VI Journey Back	87	(14)
VII Homecoming	101	(8)
Epilogue	109