For attendees to the Ashland Public Library Event with author Carla Kelly on March 24, the author will be signing bookplates for every book ordered through Aesop's Fable.

Christmas isn't always jolly, but it can change with the healing gift of  love. A surgeon, forced to manage a hypochondriac; a poor woman finds love from America; an overworked widower discovers love in a notions shop.  

"Holly and Ivy"- The Napoleonic Wars are over. Troops are returning home to a joyous Christmas, except for Surgeon Jake Frost, who must escort a hypochondriac captain, barely wounded at Waterloo. Jake prepares to hate every minute of the ordeal, until he meets the hypochondriac's fiancé.

"Yours Sincerely" - Madeline and her widowed mother live in genteel poverty, at the mercy of overbearing in-laws. Despite this, they have managed well. Years earlier, they befriended an older gentleman who has since passed away. To their surprise, an American sea captain arrives, summoned for a reading of the will of that quiet gentleman. Kindness triumphs in ways unimaginable, except, perhaps, during the season of glad tidings.

"Picture a Christmas" - To avoid the poorhouse, Mary Cooper finds employment in a notions shop belonging to a grouchy old dame. Coming into her life to upend this pleasant arrangement is Luke Wainwright, nephew of Mary's employer. He's a widower and shipbuilder with no time for anything except business. To Luke, Mary is an interloper in his aunt's affairs, until he sees someone else: a person as determined as he is to improve the hand dealt them. Together, perhaps?

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Camel Press (October 8, 2024)
• ISBN-13: 978-1684922222