Welcome to the Launch Day Celebration
for The Christmas Book Flood!

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a story only coming out in digital formats–and the first time that those digital formats include both eBook and audio. This was my first of two contracted novellas for Tyndale, and can I just say that this is also the first time I got to write a Christmas story during the Christmas season??? That was pretty sweet! I finished this last January, sitting on the couch beside my Christmas tree. Ahhhh.

So what is The Christmas Book Flood about? It’s a friends-to-more historical romance set in Iceland of 1944…the year the Jolabokflod tradition began! I go not only inside this Allied-occupied island nation (this Scandinavian country was occupied by the Allies instead of the Nazis!), but into a (fictional) publishing house as they’re putting the very first Book Flood together. Both my heroine, Tatiana, and my hero, Anders, work for this publishing house and are in a frenzy to get the mountain of orders out on time…made all the more hectic because Tatiana is hosting her niece for Christmas this year, and she’s determined to bring joy to the heart of this precious girl who is devastated to be away from home.

Turns out Icelandic Christmas traditions are very unique too! Scroll down to get a peek at the differences you’ll encounter in this story!

Live DUAL Event!

I ended up cancelling my live event for The Collector of Burned Books due to travel, surgery, and then a month-long migraine that didn’t go away until I was again out of town for vacation…so tonight we’ll have a BIG celebration for BOTH The Collector of Burned Books and The Christmas Book Flood! Though these two books are both standalones, they are thematically linked by books (deliberate choice, yes!), and I think we’ll have fun talking about them both.

So join me for a Facebook Live video tonight, Tuesday October 7, at 7 pm Eastern! (You can watch it afterward too, and I’ll try to answer any questions in the comments!)

• Behind the scenes of both books
• Fun facts
• What’s coming next

The Christmas Book Flood focuses on Tatiana and Anders

First, a quick note on Icelandic names.

Iceland still maintains the ancient Viking naming tradition, which is that each individual’s surname is their father’s name with a suffix. Girls get name + dottir (daughter) and men get name + son. So while two sisters would have the same surname and two brothers would as well, a brother and sister would actually have different surnames (different suffixes, anyway), and they do NOT have the same last name as their own parents!

Because of this, unlike with most other countries, they don’t call each other by any sort of honorific (Mr. or Miss) most of the time. They just use first names. =)

So let’s meet my heroine and hero!

First we have Tatiana. Tatiana moved from her fishing village several years ago to work for her uncle in Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik at a publishing company called The Story Society (based on a mashup of actual Iceland publisher names–isn’t that fun?). Though she’s just her uncle’s secretary officially, she has a secret no one at the company knows. That she’s also the author of one of the books the Story Society has just released, written under a male pen name. And her editor, the man who’s become such a good friend through their shared correspondence over the many months of edits, is none other than the Story Society’s star–Anders.

Anders is an editor for the company, yes, but he’s also an acclaimed writer and artist, publishing a series of books for children that retell the traditional Icelandic sagas in a way that’s appropriate for young readers. Though he’s lived all his life in Reykjavik, Anders is from a family of fishermen who don’t quite know what to make of his scholarly self. He’s always felt like a disappointment to his family, like the odd duck that baffles and infuriates them, especially his many strapping brothers, who so embody the paradigm of Nordic heroes that Anders is always left feeling like an unhero in comparison. But at the Story Society, he has found his people. And maybe, just maybe he can finally find a way to get the attention of the publisher’s beautiful niece.

~*~

Tatiana is eager to welcome her niece, Elea, to the city for the weeks leading up to Christmas, while her sister is on bed-rest in the final weeks of a much-longed-for pregnancy and her brother-in-law is recuperating from a U-boat attack on his fishing vessel. But the Book Bulletin that all of Iceland’s publishers have worked together to put out–a catalogue that has gone out to every household in Iceland, promoting books as Christmas gifts this year, since paper is one of the few things not rationed–has been a little too successful. How is she supposed to find the time to do her job and give Elea the Christmas she deserves?

Turns out, it’s going to take some teamwork, on both counts. And maybe a little Christmas miracle…

Icelandic Christmas Traditions!

There are so many fun traditions unique to Iceland, and I had a ton of fun diving into them is this story!

For starters, instead of Santa Claus, they have the Yule Lads–13 brothers who are a sort of ogre-elf, who each trek down from their mountain home in the days leading up to Christmas, to leave gifts in children’s shoes in exchange for goodies like yogurt, cookies, candles, and meat. Elea arrives in the city frustrated that her aunt actually expects her to play along with this childish tradition, but through the Yule Lads, they bring some joy back into the season.

And something you might not know…Iceland doesn’t have many trees and NO native pines. So Christmas trees? Nope! Not traditionally a part of their festivities…or at least, not like you might think. They certainly weren’t immune to the allure, but since real trees weren’t to be had, they used their well-established ingenuity and craftsmanship to make their own. But not like the artificial trees we would recognize. No, they used things like metal hangers and dowel rods to create a “tree” with branches, draped them with juniper or other evergreens, and decorated them. By 1944, some pine trees were being imported for Christmas, but it was considered a luxury.

What’s your traditional dinner for Christmas? In Iceland, their big meal is shared on Christmas Eve, and gifts are exchanged afterward. Families will then attend Midnight Mass (the country is officially Lutheran) to welcome the arrival of our Savior. But that meal? Not turkey or ham! Those aren’t readily available in Iceland either. No, their traditional meal is skate. Various kinds of fish and lamb are their main meats.

They still love cookies though! Sugar and flour were both rationed during the war, of course, but families would save up their stores to make a few special things, including cookies and leaf bread–a thin-rolled dough cut in decorative designs and then deep-fried in fat (usually sheep fat at this period).

And of course…The Christmas Book Flood!

My favorite Icelandic Christmas tradition, though, is the one whose origin I’m writing about in this story. Jolabokflod has taken the book world by storm in recent years, so it’s quite likely you’ve seen something about it.

In short, it’s the tradition of giving books as Christmas gifts (again, opened on Christmas Eve after dinner) and then staying up until you leave for church reading your book and drinking hot chocolate. I mean…COME ON. Best. Tradition. Ever!

Of course, when it began in 1944, that hot chocolate was unlikely–chocolate and sugar were both seriously rationed. But I do approve of the addition. 😉 Paper, however, was not rationed, which meant that books were a logical and affordable choice of gift during the war. 

And they were well received! Iceland, even today, boasts more readers per capita than any other country, putting Americans to shame. Which is no surprise, because they’ve long been known as “a storytelling people.” Families will tell each other stories over dinner and in the evenings, often about their day (but told as a complete tale with beginning, middle, and end), but also the old sagas of the Viking heroes, often with tragic ends. (I read some of these as research, guys, and oh my gracious, LOL. Definitely that sort of story that always ends in death to everyone, hence why Anders has to make them kid-friendly. And Odin makes frequent cameos!)

Giveaway

US entrants, enter to win bookish Christmas ornaments and few (unshown) stocking stuffer style goodies,
PLUS a gift-wrapped book of your choice from my shop for you to give to a loved one this Christmas, signed to them!
(Yes, this can totally be a gift to you, signed to you, LOL. Put it under your own tree. I won’t judge.)

International entrants, enter to win a copy of any of my books, shipped from your usual online retailer.

(If the above entry form is not working, check it out here.