A Christmas book for happy-ish holidays
Gather 'round the fireplace. Or the podcast app. Same thing.
Anyone who has uprooted their entire life — whether that’s moving far away from your hometown or cutting ties with the people who raised you — knows that the holiday season can be less than happy-ish. That is, until you find your chosen family, the friends who become your support system when things are good and when they’re bad.
That’s the case for Hannah and Finn, the NYC-based besties at the heart of Becca Freeman’s novel The Christmas Orphans Club. They’ve created their own Christmas traditions, but big life changes are about to throw a wrench into those happy golden memories — and potentially their entire friendship.
The Christmas Orphans Club is our December pick here at Terrible Reading Club, and you’re gonna love it. It’s a book about how friendships evolve throughout adulthood, the magic of the holidays — and the loneliness! — and how, as Sesame Street will attest, love is what makes a family, not genetics. Pairs well with hot chocolate and a cozy blanket.
And you know what else it pairs well with? A BRAND NEW PODCAST EPISODE! Becca joins Nora to talk the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, their fave (bad, cheesy, triple the Vanessa Hudgens) holiday movies and what it actually takes to write a novel.
“While I love everything about Christmas, the actual day of Christmas can sometimes be a bummer. I started thinking, ‘What is the Christmas book I would want to read?’”
Listen anywhere you get your pods, then jingle all the way to your local indie bookstore or our Bookshop to snag a copy for yourself and maybe one for a friend, because it’s a great gift. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out Becca’s podcast Bad on Paper.
Happy reading (and listening)!
-Team TRC