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Esther's Gift (Mitford Christmas) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jan Karon
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $1.40
You Save: $9.55 (87%)
New (38) Used (50) Collectible (5) from $1.40
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 62312
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Gift
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 37
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.1 x 5.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 0670031216
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780670031214
ASIN: 0670031216
Publication Date: October 28, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Readers flocked home to Mitford last Christmas, making The Mitford Snowmen a New York Times bestseller.
In Esther's Gift, Esther Bolick is filled with the holiday spirit as she prepares to bake the annual batch of her famous-and utterly scrumptious-orange marmalade cakes. Right after Christmas Eve service at Lord's Chapel, she and Gene will deliver a two-layer marmalade to each of seven friends and neighbors, all of them favorite Mitford characters. Then Gene calculates what it costs to bake this legendary cake, and Esther is stunned. Is it worth it to spend so much money on people who haven't always measured up to her expectations? The answer is clear. She'll cut her list back-way back.
This decision makes perfect sense until the lyrics of a Christmas carol steal into her heart, and help remind her what a gift really means.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 Nothing more than a "spinoff" May 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a great fan of all the Mitford books--and I could tell this wasn't going to be as long as any of them just by its size in hardcover. But the people who say this takes a few minutes to read, and no more, aren't kidding. And it's not even worth reading for that long. Jan Karon took one scene--I'm not kidding you--and made a whole "book" out of it. It's one thing to know an author is going to "trade on" a household brand name like the Mitford series to sell a few more copies of something...it's another thing entirely to have that author try to pass off a "spinoff" side product as another book in itself. This is an embarrassment, and I can't imagine how anyone talked Ms. Karon into doing it.
If you paid full price for this thing, send it back and ask for a refund!
 Sharing the Christmas Spirit January 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This tiny book by my favorite author, Jan Karon, captures the true spirit of Christmas, give from the heart. You will love it!
 Not worth the price December 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Esther's Gift" is subtitled "A Mitford Christmas Story" and might be more enjoyable for devotees of the Mitford series. I have read the first two Mitford novels and found this story too insubstantial to stand alone.
The plot, or what passes for one, is simple: Esther is trying to decide whether to give her traditional cakes for Christmas. She weighs the costs with the help of her husband and then makes her decision. All of this takes 32 pages, at least nine of which are nothing but pictures. In other words, this book is about the length of a short short story. In fact, I imagine this story is about the length of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" (just over 2,000 words).
The story seems little more than an anecdote, something that would fill a few pages in a Mitford novel and contribute to the overall sense of the town, but not nearly enough to stand on its own or carry an entire physical book. It almost feels as if the product itself is antithetical to the theme within. The story's theme is about being generous and so forth, but the story, packaged and priced as if there were more here, seems a little too cynically marketed for me--even with the recipe at the end.
Ten minutes June 11, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
It shouldn't take the average reader more than ten minutes to read this book, cover to cover. That's not an exaggeration. And as such, this book just isn't worth the price, any price.
Esther argues with herself over the cost of her locally famous cakes, which she gives to the deserving, especially at Christmas. And she decides that the price she pays is worth it. That's it.
If you must read this, get it from the library. You can read it there too.
esther's gift November 10, 2006
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
this was a good book i love jan karon.. got it in good condition and in a timely manner..
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