The Year Without Christmas by John M. Wills
John Wills has been both a regular attendee and presenter at the Public Safety Writers Conference and I'm proud to count him as a friend. I've read his other books, which I enjoyed, but The Year Without Christmas is outstanding. I asked him to tell me--and everyone who reads my blog--what inspired him.
Why I wrote this book:
Having read
a number of Christmas novels over the years, I have always been moved by them.
My favorite stories come from Dan Walsh, a Christian writer. He inspires me to
write with emotion. This year I had the urge to write a Christmas novel myself,
and I had a number of ideas in mind as I sat down to share my story.
In The Year Without Christmas, the
protagonist, Officer Doyle, is a cop—a darn good one—on a small department in
Michigan. He unfortunately gets involved in a tragic shooting. Despite having
followed his department’s guidelines, and even though the outcome was ruled to
be a justifiable shooting, the man begins a downward spiral that eventually
causes him to become homeless.
His family
becomes a victim of the shooting as well. (This phenomenon often occurs when
police officers are shot.) They have no idea where Officer Doyle, a husband,
father, and grandfather, is at. Their life becomes uncertain at best, as they
struggle with their new reality. In addition, the very pragmatic problem of the
breadwinner’s check being no longer available, impacts the family’s immediate
future.
Officer
Doyle’s homeless journey is as real as it gets. In the book, I described daily
life on the streets exactly as I witnessed them when I worked as a Chicago cop.
My contacts with the homeless, and what happens at the shelters is real. Some
of the resources today are much better than when I worked the streets. For
those updates I contacted a close friend to ensure I got things right.
The struggle
the alcoholic faces is a minute-to-minute battle, one that turns a person into
an unrecognizable stranger. Family and friends helplessly look on as the
alcoholic slips further and further away. Depressing stuff to be sure, but
remember—this is a Christmas story, it has to have a happy ending.
The Year Without Christmas—blurb
A small town
family’s peace is shattered by a tragic accident that sends them plunging into
the darkest times they have ever known.
The members struggle with their new reality, as one of them goes missing
and another faces a life-threatening disease.
A tale about loss
and unwavering hope, The Year Without
Christmas demonstrates the power of love, faith and a family’s will to survive.
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