Christmas Bells: A Novel
New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini celebrates Christmas, past and present, with a wondrous novel inspired by the classic poem “Christmas Bells,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old familiar carols play / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow’s classic Revolutionary War poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was less than a month hence, and the country’s grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed.
In present-day Boston, a dedicated teacher in the Watertown public school system is stunned by somber holiday tidings. Sophia’s music program has been sacrificed to budget cuts, and she worries not only about her impending unemployment but also about the consequences to her underprivileged students. At the church where she volunteers as music director, Sophia tries to forget her cares as she leads the children’s choir in rehearsal for a Christmas Eve concert. Inspired to honor a local artist, Sophia has chosen a carol set to a poem by Longfellow, moved by the glorious words he penned one Christmas Day long ago, even as he suffered great loss.
Christmas Bells chronicles the events of 1863, when the peace and contentment of Longfellow’s family circle was suddenly, tragically broken, cutting even deeper than the privations of wartime. Through the pain of profound loss and hardship, Longfellow’s patriotism never failed, nor did the power of his language. “Christmas Bells,” the poem he wrote that holiday, lives on, spoken as verse and sung as a hymn.
Jennifer Chiaverini’s resonant and heartfelt novel for the season reminds us why we must continue to hear glad tidings, even as we are tested by strife. Reading Christmas Bells evokes the resplendent joy of a chorus of voices raised in reverent song.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day / Their old familiar carols play / And wild and sweet / The words repeat / Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow’s classic Revolutionary War poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was less than a month hence, and the country’s grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed.
In present-day Boston, a dedicated teacher in the Watertown public school system is stunned by somber holiday tidings. Sophia’s music program has been sacrificed to budget cuts, and she worries not only about her impending unemployment but also about the consequences to her underprivileged students. At the church where she volunteers as music director, Sophia tries to forget her cares as she leads the children’s choir in rehearsal for a Christmas Eve concert. Inspired to honor a local artist, Sophia has chosen a carol set to a poem by Longfellow, moved by the glorious words he penned one Christmas Day long ago, even as he suffered great loss.
Christmas Bells chronicles the events of 1863, when the peace and contentment of Longfellow’s family circle was suddenly, tragically broken, cutting even deeper than the privations of wartime. Through the pain of profound loss and hardship, Longfellow’s patriotism never failed, nor did the power of his language. “Christmas Bells,” the poem he wrote that holiday, lives on, spoken as verse and sung as a hymn.
Jennifer Chiaverini’s resonant and heartfelt novel for the season reminds us why we must continue to hear glad tidings, even as we are tested by strife. Reading Christmas Bells evokes the resplendent joy of a chorus of voices raised in reverent song.
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Community Reviews
I found this book via a recommendation on the Facebook Friendly Historical Fiction group. And very glad that my library delivered my loan request during the holidays. The story covers a dual timeline, taking place in 1860's Civil War-era Boston, and in present-day Boston. The 1860's story centers on poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Henry loses his first wife, whom the reader does not meet. But he takes a healing journey to Europe. While there, he meets the Appleton family, also from Boston, and the 19 year-old Fanny Appleton. Through the years, they stay in contact, and in the course of their getting acquainted, fall in love. It's with second wife Fanny, that they build their family, including five children. The oldest child, Charlie, is fascinated with the tales of the Massachusetts regulars, and longs to join the war action when he comes of age. Fanny makes Henry promise that he'll prevent Charlie going to war, by whatever clout and measures he can enforce. In present day, the story centers around Christmas-time, and a children's choir rehearsal of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem put to music, 'I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day'. The narrator 'drops-in' on a family and each of their thoughts - the mother, and the backstory of meeting and falling in love with the father, who is now deployed to Afghanistan - the older child, a daughter, and being unjustly accused of plagiarism to a similar poem sounding like the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Christmas Bells poem - and the younger son, who gets into unintended trouble. The other characters' lives the author takes a peek into include a music teacher, a piano accompanist, a senator's wife who is mourning the loss of her husband, Father Ryan at the church, and an elderly nun who can forecast weather and serves as a sort of mother confessor and facilitator to make things happen. And by the end of both eras of tales, good things happen. I really love this book, learned a lot about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and will recommend it to others.
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