Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Once Upon a Dickens Christmas is a collection of three stories set in Victorian England around–you guessed it–Christmas. The stories are connected by the mysterious second-chance coin which shows up unexpectedly in the characters’ lives.
I reviewed the first two stories in this collection last year when they were published separately, but what’s wonderful about this collection is that it has all three stories together, which is where they belong anyway. Griep creates fantastic characters that you can’t help but love and root for, even when they’re in slightly odd situations. And don’t even get me started on the spiritual takeaways.
All of the stories are, of course, about second chances (hence the second-chance coin), but there are also other lessons. In 12 Days at Bleakly Manor, Clara has to learn that not everything is as it seems, especially Ben. And Ben has to learn to leave vengeance to God. All the guests are searching for something, and some get it but in a way they aren’t expecting, which reminded me of blessings in disguise. We so often have a specific solution in mind that we try to limit God’s ability. If we don’t get exactly what we were looking for, we assume He hasn’t answered our prayers when He has. In A Tale of Two Hearts, Mina learns that fantasy rarely intersects with reality, but sometimes falling in love with a real person is better than the fantasy version. William learns how to move on from past mistakes, and William and Mina both learn that a sin with good intentions is still a sin. In The Old Lace Shop, Edmund learns to trust God, and Bella learns that the fate of the world isn’t in her hands but God’s.
And these rich, fantastic storylines set in a distant period of history intersect so well with our current lives, that you can’t help but take a lesson with you when you close the book.
For more on my thoughts on 12 Days at Bleakly Manor and A Tale of Two Hearts, check out my post Just Read: 12 Days at Bleakly Manor and A Tale of Two Hearts by Michelle Griep.
For now, I’m going to focus on the last story of the collection.
The Old Lace Shop was a bit different than the other two in that it featured first-person narrators. Now, Griep does include the name of the narrator at the beginning of each transition which keeps the reader from getting lost. As not all authors do this, I really appreciated that inclusion. And we get to see Charles Dickens himself! That was a very nice element that I loved. It also featured two characters who had both been widowed. Edmund and Bella had great chemistry, in my opinion, and it was a pleasure seeing their story unfold.
I think one of my favorite elements was Bella’s struggle to finally be able to stand on her own two feet instead of under the dominion of a man. The backstory of spousal abuse is woven in masterfully by Griep, and as someone who used to work at a domestic violence shelter, I appreciated Griep’s decision not to show Bella as a woman who cowers. A lot of times abused women are shown as timid creatures, but that’s not always the case. Some of them do learn to fight back, and not all of them are averse to a new relationship.
Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially if you need a stocking stuffer or two. These wonderful Christmas stories are filled with substance and food for thought as well as a nice reminder that the first Christmas was about the world’s second chance.
Interested in the book? Click the picture to purchase it on Christianbook.com. And check out Michelle Griep’s website to keep up with new releases or to see her other books. (Also, if you go to her Pinterest account, you’ll see some awesome photos she pinned for inspiration.)
