The Christmas Eve Letter

By: Elyse Douglas

Narrated by: Madeleine Dauer

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Thirty-year-old Eve Sharland is browsing a Pennsylvania antique store when she discovers an old brass lantern tucked away on a shelf. She picks it up and sees something behind one of the sooty glass panes. To her surprise, she finds an unopened letter stuck inside.

The letter is postmarked December 24, 1885, and it is addressed to Evelyn Sharland in New York City. Eve gasps and drops the letter. That's her name! The letter is addressed to someone with her name in 1885: Evelyn Sharland.

Eve purchases the lantern and the letter, and returns to her New York City apartment. Later that evening, she opens the letter and reads it, astounded by its contents. She stares at the lantern in wonder and alarm, deeply moved by the story of a tragic romance.

A few days later, following a request in the letter, Eve cautiously lights the lantern. To her utter shock, she finds herself in the past - in 1885 New York City. Eve is thrown into a life far beyond what she could have ever imagined, as she gets involved with one of the richest families in New York City and meets the handsome Patrick Gantly. She must struggle to survive and return to her own time, even as her destiny is changed forever.

©2016 Elyse Douglas (P)2019 Tantor

Great story.

Loved the book and the ending. It was hard to put down! if you like time travel, don't miss this one.

Irritating?

It’s not often that I find myself listening and trying to forgive a story even once I discover that it’s incompatible to me in some way. I think the story itself kept me trying but the narrator wasn’t helpful to the characters. The characters were already flawed and one dimensional. Could have benefitted from another round or two of edits but even a flawed work can become incredibly entertaining with the right voice behind the characters. If she had made the character flaws feel more like a choice the author made (rather than making them sound so... unsympathetic and poorly written) then perhaps I wouldn’t have such a hard time listening. But I don’t like anyone so far in this novel and I can’t fully immerse into Eve’s world because I don’t relate enough to anyone. So I mean if characters aren’t important to your enjoyment of something with an awesome premise then give it a try (though, I have not and will not finish this book, so I can’t say if the plot holds up).

Extended my nightly walks so I could listen more!

I enjoyed every part of this book. It had the right balance of suspense and romance without being sappy. I listen as I walk the neighborhood and I extended my walks so I could keep listening. It was that good.

It was OK

Typical drama love story. It passed the time and didn’t offend me. Enjoyable at best. Performance was a little stilted and stunted. Not smooth Just ok.

Wow!! Wonderful story.

I loved this book. Beautiful written and very well narrated. I didn’t want it to end.

Captivating Christmas time travel book

Captivating Christmas Time travel book. Listen to this book in two days while recovering.! Wonderful voices

Good story line

This isn’t the best writing you will come across but the story line was interesting enough to keep me listening until the end.

Fell in love with the characters and the narration

I listened to the is book over a year ago and am now on book three of the series. I fell in love with the characters Eve and Patrick and their stories. I also like the time travel element and always appreciate a little historical fiction. It is very interesting to see how women were treated in the latter part of the 19th centruy. I love when books are part of a series because at the end of this book, I was wanting more .

sweet love story

downloaded this by mistake, but enjoyed the story regardless. worth the time to listen to it and loose yourself in the syory.

Excellent!

I was really surprised that the book was so good. Some of the conversation was cliched and predictable, but all in all a good read. Sometimes, the narrator over-pronounced or overemphasized her words, but she did a very good job especially dialects.