Loading...
59th out of 144 books
—
122 voters
My rating:
add to my books
A Christmas Promise: A Novel (Christmas Stories #7)
by
Anne Perry
Anne Perry’s Victorian Christmas novels have attracted as many faithful readers as her two New York Times bestselling series featuring investigators Thomas Pitt and William Monk. A Christmas Promise is the seventh in Perry’s holiday series, and it will surely bring joy to this special season.
Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London’s East End, thirteen-...more
Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London’s East End, thirteen-...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
October 27th 2009
by Ballantine Books
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
382)
Susan
rated it
A Christmas Promise is the 7th book in the Christmas mystery series by Anne Perry. Each book in the series is a stand-alone story featuring a secondary character from the author's popular Thomas Pitt and William Monk Victorian mystery series.
A Christmas Promise features Gracie Phipps at age 13, before she came to work for Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Gracie is living in London in 1883 with her Gran and young cousins Spike and Finn, after their parents' deaths. They have a hard life, wi...more
A Christmas Promise features Gracie Phipps at age 13, before she came to work for Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Gracie is living in London in 1883 with her Gran and young cousins Spike and Finn, after their parents' deaths. They have a hard life, wi...more
My book club read this book for our December read. I wasn't able to get this book at first, so I checked out Anne Perry's "A Christmas Journey", which I liked far better than this book. These were my first Anne Perry books, and I'm afraid to say that they will probably be my last. A Christmas Promise is the story of two young Victorian girls, Minnie Maude and Gracie, in London who are trying to discover how Minnie's uncle was killed and what happened to the Uncle's donkey who was pul...more
LJ
rated it
First Sentence: The week before Christmas, the smell and taste of it were in the air, a kind of excitement, an urgency about everything.
A few days before Christmas, 13-year-old Gracie Phillips comes across 8 year-old Minnie Maude Mudway standing in the cold. Her uncle, a rag and bone man, was found dead in the street with his cart and Charlie, the mule, missing. Gracie starts out by promising to help her find Charlie, but goes on to help her find out who killed her uncle.
...more
A few days before Christmas, 13-year-old Gracie Phillips comes across 8 year-old Minnie Maude Mudway standing in the cold. Her uncle, a rag and bone man, was found dead in the street with his cart and Charlie, the mule, missing. Gracie starts out by promising to help her find Charlie, but goes on to help her find out who killed her uncle.
...more
This was a pleasant book to read. Not overly Christmassy, although it's set at Christmas. It's mainly a mystery as two young girls set out to find a lost donkey, and discover a bit more than they bargained for. It maybe got slightly melodramatic/sentimental in places. I think that was deliberate and controlled by Anne Perry because it suited the book's setting (19th century, around Whitechapel in London) and I think it added to the story rather than detracted (it's not often that I'm going to...more
Sue
added it
On a raw December evening, just before Christmas, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps meets eight-year-old Minnie Maude whose uncle has just died under unusual circumstances and who is looking for her lost donkey, Charlie. Prompted by guilt after leaving the child to her lonely search, the next day Gracie offers to help Minnie Maude find Charlie and investigate Uncle Alf’s death. When they find their investigations going nowhere, Gracie approaches the mysterious Mr. Balthasar for help, and he come...more
About three days before Christmas Gracie Phipps stumbles upon Minnie Maude Mudway, an eight year old, all alone and wanting to find her friend Charlie. Gracie asks who Charlie is and Minnie tells her that he is a donkey who pulled a rag-and-bones cart for her uncle Alf. Uncle Alf is now dead and Minnie thinks he was killed. No matter what, Minnie is determined to find Charlie and Gracie decides to help her.
It seems uncle Alf had traded his regular path with another rag-and-bones...more
It seems uncle Alf had traded his regular path with another rag-and-bones...more
I'm not sure I'll finish this one. Normally, I enjoy this author's view of Victorian England, but in this case, the two main characters speak with a London (Cockney?) accent and the author has decided that this accent must be reflected in the text. For example, "He didn't go home," becomes "'E di'n't go 'ome." I find long passages of this sort of thing tedious and annoying. Besides, who is to say what is the "correct" form of English and what is dialect?
...more
...more
view 2 comments
Anne Perry does a wonderful job painting a picture of Victorian England. In this Christmas novella, the lower class of England as glimpsed though the characters of Gracie Phipps and Minnie Maude Mudway displays that the true Chrictmas spirit may be found anywhere. The story centers around the death of Minnie's uncle and the disappearance of the uncle's mule, Charlie. Minnie and Gracie search for Charlie, only to involve themselves in the opium trade. I enjoy reading these Christmas novellas ...more
This is the 7th in the series of Christmas novels written by Anne Perry and probably the last holiday novel of hers that I will read. A quite pleasant story revolving around 13 year old Gracie Phipps meeting 8 year old Minnie Maude Mudway (I know)and helping her look for her murdered uncle's donkey, Charlie in Victorian London just before Christmas. However, that being said, the plot was thin and unbelievable and the writing seemed as if it was completed quickly to meet the holiday publishing...more
A dear friend suggested an Anne Perry Christmas book to me. It's that OCD in me that makes me feel I have to finish everything I start, so here I am not reading just one this Christmas but all of this author's Christmas stories (I believe 8 total), even POST-Christmas. One left to read thank heavens. But actually each book has been worth reading, and always has a lesson/sermon on Christmas that has both been meaningful and thought provoking, if not poignant and steals a bit of your heart, this o...more
Most of the historical fiction I've read by Perry deals with the upper or middle classes. This, however, is a Christmas story set around the lives of two young girls who live in poverty during Victorian England.
I enjoyed all the details of the period. Nobody does that better than Perry, but the dialogue was difficult. It was written in dialect and that made it hard to understand in some parts.
Still, if you like the historical Christmas stores by Perry, you'll probably ...more
I enjoyed all the details of the period. Nobody does that better than Perry, but the dialogue was difficult. It was written in dialect and that made it hard to understand in some parts.
Still, if you like the historical Christmas stores by Perry, you'll probably ...more
This is the first Anne Perry book that I have read and am trying to convince myself that perhaps the plot just didn't do it for me, so I am not sure if I will read another. I enjoy reading Christmas books in December, but this book was not holiday-ish enough for me. The author did a great job with the setting of Victorian London, but chose to have the characters speak cockney which was very distracting and if that wasn't bad enough, the story line tended to just ramble on often.
Very disappointed in this book! I 'liked' it simply because it wasn't such an awful book that I couldn't get through it. It was an easy read for the most part, but I expected it to be more like Anne Perry's other novels. It is more of a mystery/who done it story rather than a Christmas story. The last chapter was really the only chapter that even really mentioned much about Christmas. Not much of a heart-warming Christmas story at all, in my opinion.
I love Anne Perry's little Christmas novellas. In them we see some of the minor characters from both of her long-running series. In this one we have Caroline, Charlotte Pitt's intrepid mother. She and her husband Joshua are in Whitby, Yorkshire with some other members of Joshua's acting troupe. They are there to put on a private play from a script taken from the newly released Bram Stoker's Dracula. The year is 1897 and it's just a few days before Christmas. Things aren't going well with the reh...more
So every year I think to myself, "I should read a Christmas novel to get myself in the holiday spirit." And, almost without fail, they suck. 'A Christmas Promise' by Anne Perry is no exception. I am really going to try to remember this for next year.
If you need to read something to get into a holiday mood, I recommend 'Holidays on Ice' by David Sedaris. He is very funny and cynical. A good combination.
If you need to read something to get into a holiday mood, I recommend 'Holidays on Ice' by David Sedaris. He is very funny and cynical. A good combination.
Perry's description of olde England is thorough to the point of being depressing. Her Thomas Pitt and Monk mystery series are involved, intense, and detailed. This story is rich in detail, and poor on plausibility. Its a quick Christmas read, with a manufactured ending that doesn't even make sense. Don't expect Dickensian satisfaction from it.
I very much enjoyed the "voice" of this book and the atmosphere of London at christmas-time. The geese and gifts and good cheer are taking place in the periphery adding a counterpoint to the action and suspense of Gracie and Minnie Maud's search. The ending was odd but I still recomend it to anyone looking for a Christmas mystery with heart.
I like Perry's Christmas stories because they extend the story of secondary characters from her other series. This one does as well delving into it goes into Gracie 's life before becoming the Pitt's maid.
It's a quick read, but still full of historical details and authentic dialect and dialogue. The mystery of a missing donkey is intriguing and the resolution strikes just the right note.
It's a quick read, but still full of historical details and authentic dialect and dialogue. The mystery of a missing donkey is intriguing and the resolution strikes just the right note.
The dialect bothered me a lot at the beginning and I almost quit reading, but I was too busy with Christmas to start another book, so just read it in bits and pieces. By the end, I didn't even notice the dialect. It was a good story and I like her writing, but maybe didn't quite understand the ending.
Nice little story using Gracie Phipps at thirteen. The thing I like about Anne Perry novels is she describes the setting so vividly. I feel like I'm there with the characters, and when they get cold, so do I. She really knows her Victorian England. Story isn't deep, but a quick read and a nice message.
A light read, if slightly predictable and sappy, with a lot less characters then her mystery books. A Christmas message which was nice. I had the feeling there are some recurring characters so it would be interesting to read some of the earlier stories in the series.
Good Christmas mystery but felt I was a little short-changed. It, as my son says, got a good story going then decided to end. Set in old England, as many of this author does, two young girls try to find what happened to the donkey and cart when the driver is killed.
I always like to read books set at Christmastime during December and found six--make that eight, I found two more-- all short(100-200 pages) mysteries set in Victorian Britain, by Anne Perry. Fun, easy reads for whiling away the cold hours 'til Christmas.
I like Anne Perry's little Christmas novellas. They have a simple mystery, the Victorian setting, but not the angst and wallowing of the longer books. This one is about Gracie as a child, and is really delightful. The ending has a really nice touch, but no spoilers here.
This was an historical story set in England. We learn about the hardships of life and the friendship that develops between two young girls. The story itself is a whodoneit and is well developed by the author.
Anne Perry brings Christmas joy to London's East End. Presenting the Pitts' maid, Gracie, as a streetwise teenager who befriends a youngster in need, Perry delivers another Victorian mystery for our book shelf.
adore this author but just couldn't get into this story. I love all the other series, but this left me sad with no desire to finish which rarely happens to me or attempt the rest of this series.
I have to admit a secret liking for Perry's little Christmas books--so sweet and happily ending. I know they're too twee for almost everyone. oh well. Sometimes you need some gooey treacle.
I always look forward to Perry's Christmas series, but was very disappointed. Cockney dialogue was too distracting, I didn't want to finish the book after losing interest.
Danielle
added it
This is one of the first book that I have read by Anne Perry, Basically this storry is about a women called Gracie Phipps that helps solve a mystery of a murder and a missing donkey.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Anne Perry (born Juliet Hulme) is a British historical novelist.
Juliet took the name "Anne Perry", the latter being her stepfather's surname. Her first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was published under this name in 1979. Her works gener...more
More about Anne Perry...
Anne Perry (born Juliet Hulme) is a British historical novelist.
Juliet took the name "Anne Perry", the latter being her stepfather's surname. Her first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was published under this name in 1979. Her works gener...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
