A Home for the Holidays

Though her mother’s alcohol addiction complicated matters during most of the year, wedding singer Mel Hart always had a wonderful time during the winter holidays, thanks to her mother’s determination to celebrate the magic of the season. All that changes in Mel’s adult years when, days before Christmas, her boyfriend breaks up with her around the same time she learns that her mother, Connie, has died. Mel retreats to her late mother’s house for the holidays, but then Barb, a friend from Connie’s past, shows up on the doorstep and insists that Mel come to stay with her. As Mel spends the holidays with Barb and her handsome, almost-divorced adult son, she learns about Connie’s surprising past. Hahn’s (The Lifestyle) holiday novel is a complex story about grief, addiction, and motherhood. Anna Caputo provides a sensitive yet lively narration of Mel as she learns about her mother and considers their complicated relationship. Listeners will be touched by Connie’s determination to provide her daughter with moments of beauty and might find themselves reaching for the tissues as Mel discovers the painful truths she kept hidden for so long.