“Handmade Holidays,” ‘Nathan Burgoine’s new Christmas story. Review by Jeff Baker.

I should probably stop re-blogging these reviews, but I swear I’m basically floating around in a happy daze because of them.

authorjeffbaker

                     ‘Nathan Burgoine’s new Christmas story “Handmade Holidays” may well be an instant classic. Drawing on some of Burgoine’s own personal experiences as well as a tradition involving Christmas ornaments, it tells the story of Nick Wilson; on his own for the first time after his homophobic parents throw him out of the house. With the holidays approaching, Nick buys a cheap tree and decorates it with a friend’s improvised ornament. Thus starts a tradition which the story follows through fifteen years as Nick’s life and the lives of his chosen family of assorted friends change and grow through successes, tragedies, births and deaths, all the while adding ornaments, each with a special significance to their lives at the time.

Telling the story in the form of the story of successive years (skipping over a few) is a masterstroke, offering readers…

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