Mary Christmas by Mary-Anne O’Connor is a charming Christmas love story set in the captivating, snow-covered Cotswold village of Bibury in 1909.
Mary Richards has worked hard to gain an education and become a teacher in the close-knit community of this picturesque village in the Cotswolds. Yet, not everyone approves of her modern ways.
When her sister Emily becomes engaged to David Christmas, it seems that fate will intervene in the form of the best man – David’s eligible brother Johnathon. Mary soon discovers herself in danger of falling for this handsome and almost too-perfect, stranger. However, as married women have to give up their careers, there’s no way that Mary is going to sacrifice her dreams for a mere man no matter how attractive he seems!
The ancient village of Bibury, however, has a way of weaving its enchantment over them all. As the winter snow falls and deepens, and Emily’s Christmas-Day wedding approaches, Mary finds she is becoming unable to resist the romance and beauty of the season. Eventually, she must decide whether she is ready to embrace love or not. Is it possible to have the best of both worlds on the eve of what could well be the most magical Christmas of them all?
Romance, love, marriage and the prospect of children and a life devoted to family, or a career doing what one loves in educating the children of others? In those days, women were frowned upon for choosing the latter and regarded as unnatural, or alternatively dismissed as frumpish spinsters. Only men should have careers!
Not only a charming must-read, but also a reminder of how women have fought to choose a career over a family, and, eventually, have been able to enjoy both.
ISBN: 9781761347948
Mary Christmas is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook.
About Mary-Anne O’Connor
Mary-Anne O’Connor has a combined arts education degree with specialties in environment, music and literature. After a successful copywriting and marketing career she now focuses on writing fiction and non-fiction as well as public speaking. Mary-Anne lives in a house overlooking her beloved bushland in northern Sydney with her husband Anthony and their two sons Jimmy and Jack.
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