A Redbird Christmas: A Novel

I absolutely loved this book! Love redbirds and loved the themes. Adored the little town on two sides of water. I know of a place like that and always felt like it was going down the river in a boat while riding through it in a car. The place has a rode on one side and a canal or river on the other. Loved the characters. Heart-touching, heart-warming, the best Christmas novel I've read this year! The characters are lovable, funny and eccentric. An ongoing feud with two different groups of people who live on opposite sides of the river is part of the tale. A man who lives in Chicago comes to Lost River for a few months because of lung issues. He expects to die soon and prepares to do so, but life isn't through with him yet and neither is God. Love Patsy and Frances, even Mildred and Julian. A host of great characters. Great description. You could visualize and smell the place. Loved all the birds, especially Jack. Cried. Loved the ending. A five-star read all the way! A little crippled redbird changes so many lives and even gets people back together again. BJ Robinson, Author of When the Snow Came and other books

Life hasn’t been very kind to Oswald T. Campbell. Abandoned at birth and raised in an orphanage, his childhood was a struggle. As an adult he didn’t do himself any favors by smoking like a fiend and drinking to excess. Now in his fifties he finds himself alone, living in a boarding house and just barely scraping by on a small disability income. His doctor strongly advises Oswald to leave Chicago’s bitter winter weather. Even with a change in climate, Oswald’s health is so precarious that there’s little hope he’ll see another Christmas. Still, he might as well be comfortable in his final days, so he sets out for the tiny town of Lost River, Alabama. Nothing in his previous life has quite prepared Oswald for the cast of characters he meets in Lost River. The community embraces their newest member, and before he even realizes what’s happening, Oswald T. Campbell’s life takes a turn – just not the one he’d been expecting! This was a warm and touching story that spans the year from one Christmas to the next. While not strictly speaking a Holiday story, it does indeed embody the spirit of the season. If anyone is better at characterization than Fannie Flagg, I can’t think of who it could be. Her characters, with their quirks and eccentricities simply come to life on the page. I come to care about them, empathize with them and enjoy every moment I spend in their company. The town of Lost River has a “Brigadoonish” quality that I found charming and the storyline, while simple, kept me engaged and anxious to find out what happens next. A well-written and enjoyable read for any time of the year, but really a lovely way to kick-off the holiday season. No strong language (that I recall) and no sexual content.

Received for Christmas. Spent time in this area while RVing and took me right back. Sweet story when neighbors and community took care of each other.

Being able to listen to this book helped my chores go by quickly. Read well. Enjoyable.

I got this book for my mom and she absolutely loved it. She said best book she has read for awhile. I have yet to read it but I will. Wonderful book to read at Christmas time or any time.

Oswald, divorced and battling depression, faces a grim future as his lung condition worsens. Following his doctor's advice to escape Chicago's brutal winters and constrained by a tight budget, he relocates to a small rented room in Lost River, Alabama. There, he navigates a life of quiet routines, striving to avoid alcohol and the temptations of the local women. Along the way, he befriends a young, abandoned girl who is captivated by an injured redbird living at the local grocery store. As the town's residents come together, they embark on a journey of healing—helping one another mend their wounds in a heartwarming and restorative story.

For me a four-star review means I liked the book a lot. Generally, there doesn’t have to be something I disliked about it to dock it a star, it just means I thought it was great, I’d recommend it, but there are other books I like just a little bit more. RECAP: A little redbird named Jack is at the center of this story. Jack was shot by some teenage hooligans and a small-town Alabama store owner nurses him back to health – kind of. Though Jack’s not healthy enough to fly free, he’s healthy enough to fly around the town’s only grocery store. It’s there that the whole town falls in love with Jack, including Patsy, a little girl who is soon loved every bit as much as Jack. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but suffice it to say, it’s totally worth reading. It’s funny and heartwarming. BLUSH FACTOR: Nothing to speak of. Perhaps a bad word or two, but I just finished the book a few hours ago and I can’t remember what they were. THE WRITING: Excellent. STAND-ALONE OR CLIFFHANGER ENDING? Stand-alone CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Fantastic. I loved each of the characters and I could completely picture each one in my mind. BOTTOM LINE: A Redbird Christmas is a story of love, determination, hope and forgiveness. I highly recommend it.

Such a great uplifting story about a small town and a red bird that brought them all together. Nice book to read at Christmas! Easy & quick read - very G rated and nice to clear your head in between more dramatic books.

Du très grand FAnny Flagg ! Beaucoup de tendresse dans et pour ses personnages, beaucoup d'humour, de la douceur , un texte travaillé et en même temps si accessible.... Une histoire de Noel comme on les aime, à la mesure de l'auteur. A offrir, à s'offrir...Mais à ne surtout pas rater!

Fabulous book--Fannie Flagg is a wonderful storyteller!!

I lost my paperback copy and I wanted to keep this book for long time for I want to keep reading the story once a every year before Christmas season.

Fannie Flagg si legge sempre con piacere, non richiede impegno o concentrazione, ma riesce ad essere..accattivante! E' una storiella piuttosto scontata (e' chiaro fin dall'inizio come andra' a finire), ma non per questo meno gradevole..anzi, devo dire che la descrizione di quella societa' tipica dei piccoli centri del sud degli USA (Alabama, nel caso specifico), con le sue atmosfere e i suoi personaggi, mi ha fatto balenare in mente l'idea di...trasferirmi da quelle parti in vecchiaia (..cioe' tra pochissimo!).

I'm working my way through all this author's books. This is a quick easy read, with fewer characters than her other books, but it's engaging and heartwarming as you'd expect from Fannie Flagg.