Empty Stockings: A Brooklyn Christmas Tale

by Denis Hamill

During the Christmas season of 1963, while the nation mourns the loss of its president, fourteen-year-old Rory Maguire and his family struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of an accident that has cost his father his job and his health, his brother's involvement with a local gang, and a wrongful accusation of stealing that leaves Rory in desperate need of a miracle. Original.

273 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Robin Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at tenement life in 1960s New York. Fourteen year old Rory is such a well defined character. He goes to school, he works after school, and his earnings contribute to supporting the family. His father is a veteran who was wounded in the war, and then later was injured on the job and is now in a wheelchair or struggling with crutches. His mother works in a laundry and does her best to keep home and hearth running.

Rory’s father was in the Merchant Marine during the war. I’ve never heard much about the Merchant Marine, and had always thought it was a branch of the Marine Corps that served at sea. I didn’t know that the Merchant Marine was not actually considered part of the U.S. Military, and its veterans received none of the benefits that soldiers and sailors did. They were not given veteran status until 1988!

Rory is proud of his father, and desperate to find someone who will help him get the benefits he should be entitled to, and this drives much of the story. In the process, he learns a lot about the Merchant Marine, and we learn right along with him. The book left me wanting to learn more, and sent me searching for non-fiction about the Merchant Marine.

But I digress. EMPTY STOCKINGS is about more than that, of course. It’s about the mourning and heartache that followed President Kennedy’s assassination. It’s about the day to day life of a young boy who wants to be a journalist. A young boy falling for a pretty girl, worrying about his family not having Christmas, trying to steer his younger brother away from the rough crowd he hangs out with, from gang life.

Well written and mesmerizing, I enjoyed this book so much more than I had anticipated. I also teared up at the end, which I so had not anticipated.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book on the plane during a recent trip that I took. It is a wonderful story about a young boy and his poor Irish family who lived in Brooklyn at the time of the JFK assassination and a few months afterward. Rory Maguire was one of 5 children of his hard-working mother and his disabled father who had been in the Merchant Marines during WWII. The family had very little money, but they had strong family bonds, which turned out to maintain them during a dark time in history and proved that others they came into contact with who seemed to have so much more going for them in life. I had tears in my eyes when I finished the book.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was slow going for me in the beginning, and I actually considered not finishing it. I'm so glad I did, though! I loved how the story developed, how real Rory and his father seemed. And I felt transported back to 1960's Brooklyn, even though I've never been there. To top it off, the ending had me in tears. Happy tears. I may be reading this book again next December.

[Carol Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tale filled with heart, wisdom, wit and determination. I loved it.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

2003
Possibly the author is aiming at readers the same age as the protagonist? [14-15 years] Or maybe it's aimed at readers of that age cohort [see below].
Found this book in Leiden public library's selection of xmas tales.

Although not much for me to identify with in terms of location and type of family, it gave me a sense of a 2nd generation Irish boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s - it seems the author is exactly my age [well, that's based on my assumption that the author is the protagonist, who is said to have been born in 1949].

We get street gangs, sweatshop labor [the mother] party bosses [=political machine]. And plenty of anecdotes about Irish immigrants and their speech.

This family, although impoverished after father falls and breaks his back, does better than most because the parents are both intelligent and do not waste the little money they have [earned by the protagonist working after school at a butcher shop]. The mother knows how to get bargain food [day-old] and bargain clothes [she's an excellent seamstress] and make the best of them.

The story kept me interested and all the details of the time and place gave it atmosphere. Sometimes it seemed too full of mentions of 1950/60s products, singers, radio shows, etc.

One of his chapters is called "The Day the President Was Shot". Anyway, for my generation it allows plenty of scope for reminiscing.

The story is rather sweet, with an improbably happy ending, but then it was written and sold as a xmas story...

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good solid holiday/historical fiction read. Not heavy, nothing too unique, but fun. I loved all the 1960s details.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Great characters, well-written. Not too many surprises, but the kind of light, heart-warming story that is nice to hear this time of year.