February 1, 2019
When widower Sam and his young son, Teddy, move back to London for a fresh start, they meet their four-legged neighbor Jack, who had belonged to the previous tenants of their new house on Christmas Street. Jack has become friends with everyone on the street: the curmudgeonly old man, the gay couple trying to adopt, the South Asian family, all the others. In an effort to cheer up Teddy, Sam invites all the neighbors to a cookout. Surprisingly, they all attend, and the first cracks in the wall of English reserve and big-city anonymity appear. When the school year starts, Sam falls for Teddy's new teacher, cheered on and assisted by his neighbors. As the year progresses through Bonfire Night and Christmas, all the intertwined stories of Jack and the people of Christmas Street rush to a conclusion. Although Jack is the title character, he is more a guiding spirit of the street than a full-fledged character. However, all the humans have worthy conflicts to resolve and obstacles to overcome. VERDICT This new title from Pembroke (A Wedding on Christmas Street) will appeal to fans of light fiction and the cable channel movies popular around the time of the story's climax.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
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