The Christmas Garden

by Lexie Stewart

Mary Mcdougall has hit rock bottom. She’s recently divorced, downsizing from a spacious house to a tiny, old cottage and she talks to herself so much that even her pet cat looks at her like she’s crazy. The last thing Mary needs is to be told she’s hosting this years Mcdougall Family Christmas Get-together. The Mcdougall clan is big. And loud. And there’s more than one eccentric amongst them. Every Christmas, one of the clan is assigned the honour of hosting Christmas and every year there’s tartan, bagpipes, red hair and a lot of singing. Mary is utterly overwhelmed. She doesn’t believe she can handle anything in the state she’s in with her confidence and in tatters and her identity slipping from married and settled to single and lost. But then Mary remembers her superpower. Her green thumb. Can Mary take the patchy lawn, overgrown ivy and garden choked with weeds and turn it into something spectacular. And there’s always tanned, handsome David with a silent sorrow in his eyes who jogs past her cottage each morning to give Mary an extra incentive to spend time outdoors. David is haunted by the tragic events of a past Christmas and is himself putting his life back together. Maybe they can face their demons together and come to love the festive season again.

Genres: Christmas

61 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2016

Reviews

[Allyson Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

What lovely Christmas story of a 'start again ' women after divorcing her bully of a husbands. Although she initially struggles under the anxiety of 'bitten of more than she can chew', as her new life starts in a small run down cottage and plus the added stress of being nominated her clan's Christmas party host, she finds the strength and determination to bring it all together. Her love of gardening gives her a focus for the Christmas party, encourages her motivation to sort out the cottage; and of course to be outside when the handsome jogger goes by on his daily run.