A Town Divided by Christmas
It began with a quarrel over which newborn should be the baby Jesus in the town's Christmas pageant. Decades later, two scientists arrive to study small-town genetic patterns, only to run up against the invisible walls that split the leading citizens into two congregations that can only be joined by love and forgiveness. And maybe a little deception, because there might be some things that people just don't need to know.
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Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and its many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into the Ender Saga, which chronicles the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, which follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and is set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, which tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers." Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977--the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog. The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.
Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University. He is the author many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), and stand-alone novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's work also includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old. Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen's birthday honors for services to drama.
"The scientific method collides with southern small-town culture and a local mystery in Orson Scott Card's charming and insightful novella A Town Divided by Christmas...The witty banter and humorous commentary make the leisurely journey a delight...A Town Divided by Christmas (originally passed out by the Cards in 2017 as a Christmas gift) has a timely message for our world, where so much focus is given to the things that divide us."
-- "Fantasy Literature""A timely message about what divides people today: science and religion, logic and emotion, and urban and rural...Card's strength as an author is his use of dialog and the characters' introspection to tell a story...Small-town politician and sheltered academic; reclusive, socially awkward, logic-driven geneticist and small-town girl just out of high school--what could they possibly have in common? Just the human heart it turns out."
-- "Mercury (Manhattan, KS)""There is nowhere better to spend Christmas than in the western North Carolina mountains, and Orson Scott Card is the perfect storyteller to take you there."
-- "Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times bestselling author of The Unquiet Grave""A Town Divided by Christmas is a short tale that repays thoughtful reading. The characters are varied and engaging. It works through complex human concerns to arrive at answers that surprise and entertain. It is a compelling Hallmark Christmas movie in prose. It is a parable for our times."
-- "Deseret News""This being a Christmas novel, there is, of course, a chance of romance, for both Spunky and--surprisingly--Elyon. Elyon's courtship, especially, yields quite a bit of humor. There is also the mystery surrounding the feud that split the town, and a good dose of Christmas spirit. Card doesn't take himself or his Christmas story too seriously. More than once, there are humorous references to Hallmark Christmas movies, even as it's obvious that the book would make a fine one. The story is sweet, but not syrupy, and quirky enough to be thoroughly entertaining even if (satisfyingly) predictable."
-- "Greensboro News and Record (North Carolina)""Orson Scott Card brings whimsy to the forefront of his latest novel, A Town Divided by Christmas...One of Card's strengths as a writer is his ability to take intelligent protagonists and make them not only relatable but also humorous through clever dialogue and introspection. From the first page, Spunk pulls readers into a world full of scientific questioning, but in a way that is interesting and compelling for readers of any background. Though the book is more like a novella...it moves swiftly through pages of genetic calculation and data collection through a plot that contains great character quips and quirks, making it feel like a fuller text than it is...A quick and fun read with substance that is certainly worth the while."
-- "San Francisco Book Review"
