Award-winning author Gordon Kirkland has released his eighth book in time for early holiday shoppers.
The Plight Before Christmas is the author’s second full-length novel, following on the heels of his previous book, Crossbow, which was released earlier this year.
“Costco already has an aisle dedicated to their Kirkland brand holiday decorations, so I didn’t think it was too early to bring out my own Kirkland brand novel,” the Pitt Meadows resident quipped.
“There have been a lot of people waiting for this novel to be released,” he added. “It hit Amazon three months to the day from Christmas Eve and sales started coming in right away.”
Syndicated columnist Tracy Beckerman, whose column, Lost In Suburbia appears in more than 400 American newspapers, and her on-line blog is featured by Lifetime Television’s The Balancing Act, praised the new book.
“The Plight Before Christmas” is misnamed,” she says. “It should be called “The Gift Before Christmas” because this magical story is the best gift you can give or receive for the holidays.”
The Plight Before Christmas is different from his crime thriller, Crossbow. It is more in line with the writing style Kirkland used in his earlier books and his syndicated newspaper column, which ran in Canadian and American newspapers from 1994-2007. He is noted for focusing on the fun and foibles of everyday life in his writing.
The story is set largely in the early 1960s, following a family dealing with a number of somewhat comedic calamities and disasters leading up to the holidays. Through it all, the events draw the family, especially the books two central characters, the father and the older son, closer together.
• The book is available exclusively from Amazon.com as both a paperback, and for their Kindle e-reader.