Christmas at Bar Haven

by Phyllis Clark Nichols

Will there be another Christmas miracle?In the coastal marshlands of Georgia where the intriguing Geechee people call home, Bar Haven is a quaint seaside community where everyone counts, and neighbors take care of each other. The town folks have been busy for months with plans and preparations for Bar Haven’s legendary Christmas festivities. Everything is set. Almost everything . . .The O’Hara family, third-generation residents of a sprawling seaside home, are all wrapped up in Bar Haven’s Christmas celebrations. But in preparing their home for Christmas, Jillian O’Hara finds a remarkable treasure in the carriage house. What will her startling discovery mean for the O’Hara family?Meanwhile, three hours away in Jacksonville, Anna Beth is facing Christmas alone as a hopeless and desperate single mother. In the midst of making a soul-wringing decision that will change her life and those around her forever, Anna Beth is confronted by a stranger who directs her to Bar Haven where begins a series of unexpected and surprising events.Five-year old freckle-faced Riley will make you chuckle. Irma’s Geechee Chicken bog will make you hungry. Anna Beth’s struggle will pull at your heart strings. The mysterious stranger who shows up to offer help will make you wonder. And what unfolds in this story is what Christmas is all about.Gale-force winds are howling, and Christmas is only days away. Whose lives will be changed when their stories converge? Will there be a real miracle in Bar Haven this Christmas?

188 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2023

About the author

Phyllis Clark Nichols’s character-driven Southern fiction explores profound human questions using the imagined residents of small town communities you just know you’ve visited before. With a strong faith and a love for nature, art, music, and ordinary people, she tells redemptive tales of loss and recovery, estrangement and connection, longing and fulfillment . . . often through surprisingly serendipitous events.

Phyllis grew up in the deep shade of magnolia trees in South Georgia. Born during a hurricane, she is no stranger to the winds of change: In addition to her life as a novelist, Phyllis is a seminary graduate, concert pianist, and cofounder of a national cable network with health- and disability-related programming. Regardless of the role she’s playing, Phyllis brings creativity and compelling storytelling.

She frequently appears at conventions, conferences, civic groups, and churches, performing half-hour musical monologues that express her faith, joy, and thoughts about life—all with the homespun humor and gentility of a true Southern woman.

Phyllis currently serves on several nonprofit boards. She lives in the Texas Hill Country with her portrait-artist husband.

Website: PhyllisClarkNichols.com
Facebook: facebook.com/PhyllisCNichols
Twitter: twitter.com/PhyllisCNichols