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Published Oct 2008
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Heiress Caroline Dixon has managed to alienate nearly everyone with her alcohol-fueled antics, which have also provided near-constant fodder for the poison-pen tabloids and their gossip-hungry readers. But like so many girls-behaving-badly, the twenty-six-year-old socialite gets her comeuppance, followed by a newfound attempt to live a saner existence, or at least one more firmly rooted in the real world.
As Caro tentatively begins atoning for past misdeeds, she reaches out to two wonderful people who years ago brought meaning to her life: her former nanny, Astrid Brevald, now living in Norway and Arizona dude ranch owner, Cyril Dale. While Astrid fondly remembers Caro as a special, sweet little girl left in her charge, Cyril recalls how he and his late wife were quite taken with the quick-witted teenager Caro had become when she spent a difficult period in her life at the ranch as her father was dying.
In a series of e-mail exchanges, Caro reveals the depth of her pain and the lengths she went to hide it. In turn, Astrid and Cyril share their own stories of challenging times and offer the unconditional support this young woman has never known. The correspondence leads to the promise of a reunion, just in time for Christmas. But the holiday brings unexpected revelations that change the way everyone sees themselves and one another.
At once heartfelt and witty, 'Tis the Season bears good tidings of great joy about the human condition–that down and out doesn’t mean over and done, that the things we need most are closer than we know, and that the true measure of one’s worth rests in the boundless depths of the soul.
"Readers who love snark - it's doled out here by the shovelful - will dig this." - Publishers Weekly.
"A rare stumble from an entertaining author who usually has a strong, sure hand with character." - Kirkus Reviews.
"[T]his quick, charming read is suitable for all popular fiction collections.
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Photo: Brian Velenchenko
Writing and theater were Lorna Landvik's twin passions when she was growing up in her home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from high school, she and her best friend traveled in Europe, settling in Bavaria where they supported themselves as hotel chamber maids and English tutors. When she returned to the States, Landvik briefly attended the University of Minnesota before moving to San Francisco, where she performed stand-up and improvisational comedy. Another move took her to Los Angeles, where she worked as a stand-up comic at the Comedy Store and The Improv, supplementing her income with a variety of temp jobs--including one at the Playboy Mansion ("I felt like Margaret Mead studying a secret society") and working for Atlantic Records.
In California, Landvik married ...
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