‘TOGETHER BY CHRISTMAS’ BY KAREN SWAN

 

The thing I like most about prolific Karen Swan is her ability to write intriguing protagonists in different settings. Take her latest heroine, Lee, in the captivating TOGETHER BY CHRISTMAS by Pan McMillan. She is a Pulitzer prize-winning war correspondent photographer now living in Amsterdam with her son Jasper. I’ve never visited Amsterdam. Now it’s as if I’m there. Five years have gone by since Lee’s grueling assignment in ravaged Syria (haven’t been there either but I think I’ll pass) which gave her PTSD, though she does her best to hide it. Besides taking care of her kid, preparing for her latest showing of her sought-after pictures and sleeping with some of her male subjects when she happens to shoot them for a popular magazine, nothing really sets her motor going, until she finds a book in the basket of her bicycle with a note inside that will eventually change the course of her life.

I actually managed to read this wonderful novel despite being in the middle of a move. All my books are already packed, so hurray for my Kindle and Karen Swan. I love how the story just grabs you and stays intriguing all the way through. I really connected with the heroine and I so wanted her to succeed despite her hardships. I admit I’ve never been too keen on political issues but I did find the topic rewarding in this case. Writing about Syria and everything around it made sense for the protagonist to be pushed on a brick of a nervous breakdown, if I can call it that. But luckily she does find the strength to pull through. I hope I did not spoil things too much but it really is just a smidge of what this novel is about. You’ll be too caught up in the plot to care anyway. 

I’m so glad to be back on the Karen Swan wagon after missing a couple of her recent books from her impressive backlist but I plan to pick them up as soon as we get settled in. In the meantime I think I’ll re-read this one. So go on, get yourself a copy of TOGETHER BY CHRISTMAS and see what an impressive Holiday read this turns out to be. And don’t get fooled by the light-hearted look of the cover. The story definitely goes deeper than meets the eye.

 

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

 

Until next post—Martin