Publication date: NetGalley
September 26, 2023
Fiction, women’s, holiday, digital, arc, holiday
St Martins Press
288 pages 4/5
10/31/23-12/25/23
Every winter the Toliver Family head to NYC from their tree farm in Tarburton, North Carolina to sell their beloved Fraser Fir trees in time for Christmas. The annual sojourn is usually made by Murphy and his father Jock in his rusting 1982 Ford F-150 with a vintage fifteen-foot travel trailer hooked up behind it. The 1962 Shasta trailer was fondly referred to as Spammy and has made the 700 mile trip the day after Thanksgiving for the past 40 years where it would be parked in the West Village of NYC.
This year Jock had a heart attack and would not be able to making the trip with his son Murphy, 39 years-old so it was strongly suggested by their mother Roberta "Birdie" Toliver that 34 year-old Kerry Clare Toliver accompany her brother. Kerry had been vague when she moved home a few months prior from Charlotte where she worked in human resources until a merge rendered her position "redundant". Since her boyfriend, Blake, "ghosted" her there was nothing keeping her there so she returned home to live with Birdie. She barely knew her brother since her parents divorced when she was 7 years-old and Murphy stayed to live with their father on the farm.
It's a humorous story about a new experience for Kerry who enjoyed the trip more than she imagined. From cleaning out the nest of mice in the camper's sleeping loft to the Google map plan of a 10-hour drive and then finding parking in the Big Apple! After Kerry recovers from the culture shock, she falls into a routine with Murphy selling trees and getting to know the locals that have helped the Toliver's over the years. Clare befriends Austin, the 10 year-old son of Patrick, a divorced father sharing custody with his ex-wife. There is a colorful cast of characters which provide drama and humor a long the way.
A fun holiday read.
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