First published 2008
Elliott Banner considers their fourteenth wedding anniversary unremarkable. He plans to wait for their fifteenth or twentieth to take his wife Laura somewhere special like Paris. Two days before Christmas, they return home from their anniversary dinner when Laura develops what seems like a bad headache. The pain turns out to signal something far more serious than a migraine. Elliott suddenly wishes he had treated every anniversary as precious. Laura quietly brings their family together during the Christmas holiday. She wants to celebrate their shared history and future while they count what matters most. Over one night, the family's story emerges as they face what lies ahead. Laura teaches them about love, trust, and the courage to release what they cannot control. This Christmas story reveals how a family discovers what truly matters when time becomes uncertain.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Period: Christmas, Fourteenth Wedding Anniversary, Fifteenth or Twentieth Anniversary
560 pages · Paperback · John Murray
Content warnings: terminal-illness