Book Review: The Christmas Postcards by Karen Swan

 

Title: The Christmas Postcards

 

Author: Karen Swan

 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia 

 

Publication date: 27th October 2022

 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Romance

 

Pages: 480

 

RRP: $34.99AUD (Paperback) 

 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher 

 

My review of The Christmas Postcards

 

Every year I look forward to Karen Swan's Christmas story. I can always be assured of a riveting tale and a happy ending set in an exotic location with plenty of snow. 

 

In the weeks leading up to Christmas Natasha's  young daughter loses her treasured toy cow, Moola, accidentally leaving her behind in a B & B in Vienna. 

Duffy is staying one night in Vienna, hoping to catch up with a friend before his next flight to Nepal, when he happens across a toy cow exactly like the one his sister had. He takes this as a sign and now Moodle will be his good luck mascot as he treks the Himalayas.

 

A social media post to help find Moola goes viral eventually reaching Duffy although he is already too far to return the toy he promises to send photos whenever he has internet.

I loved the idea of a social media post to find Moola going viral and flying around the world. So many wonderful people wanting to help. 

 

There is so much to this story! It has mystery, suspense, armchair travel, edge of your seat suspense and romance all rolled into one.

 

Nat is very unsettled in her marriage, she has everything she could want and she can't seem to pinpoint why she is unhappy. Swan deftly depicts Nat's unsettledness without making her unlikable or appear selfish.

 

The two plot lines are so different in content and theme. Nat's is all about a husband who is rarely home and trying to handle a distraught toddler alone and her feelings of disconnect now she is no longer in the workforce. Duffy's story is more melancholy, showcasing the atmospheric Himalayas and the dangers faced by mountain climbers in extreme conditions. The two plots are pulled together by the emails and photos between Natasha and Duffy.

 

The Christmas Postcards is an immersive story about love, loss, second chances and the fate that sometimes controls our life.

 

My rating 5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty-two books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year - one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Secret Path and, for winter, The Christmas Secret, Together by Christmas and Midnight in the Snow.