Somehow I managed to miss Anne Perry's 2003 Christmas book: A Christmas Journey (#137) when it was first published. I'm glad I caught up with it this year.
Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould (a familiar character from the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mysteries) in the 1850s as a young woman attends an English country house party at the home of her friend Omegus Jones on her own. One evening a public and catty remark by Isobel Alvie to Gwendolen, another young widow who appears to be on the verge of a proposal by an eligible bachelor, results in a tragedy. The woman's body is dragged from a pond the next morning and the house guests are quick to blame Isobel. The company is coerced into agreeing with their host's proposal of a medieval trial if Isobel is found guilty. Gwendolen has left behind a note for her mother. If Isobel undertakes to deliver the letter and break the news of her daughter's death to Mrs. Naylor, and agrees to accompany her back to London if she so wishes, all who are attendance at the house party will be bound to forgive and accept Isobel, and never to speak of the incident to outsiders. Faced with social ruin if word should get out, Isobel is reluctant to agree. Lady Vespasia is the only person there to speak up on her behalf, and impulsively volunteers to accompany Isobel on the difficult journey to the wilds of Scotland. The journey tests both Isobel and Vespasia who must come to terms with physical and mental barriers that must be overcome to set things right.
Although its theme of expiation and forgiveness, responsibility for one's own actions, and the burden of peer pressure do not at first glance appear to fit the Christmas theme, I found this book exemplified the spiritual journey each person must undertake to achieve his or her own form of salvation. Ms. Perry ties it together very neatly in the end as the true meaning of Christmas through the character of Omegus Jones. Most of the other Christmas books I have read this year have been fun, but none affected me as profoundly as this little book. A great time to pause and reflect...
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