When Angels Sing: A Christmas Story

Southern Living, Dec 1999 by Dorman-Hickson, Nancy

When Angels Sing: A Christmas Story

by Turk Pipkin (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $14.95)

Like any Christmas story worth its angel wings, this tale will make you cry and laugh at the same time.

For Michael Walker, the season's hoopla represents painful memories of a tragic loss. Details from the terrible event escape him, but nagging guilt jabs him with each twinkle of the lights.

So it's a miracle of sorts when he chooses a Wonderland Avenue address for his family's new home just before Christmas. Soon his new neighbors invite him to join in their light extravaganza, but Michael's old feelings just grow stronger.

That is, until he faces another tragedy. Readers will feel as triumphant as Michael when he works through this new dilemma-as well as ghosts of Christmas past.

Texas author Turk Pipkin seems more than familiar with the miraculous. He penned this story for his daughter, then shared it with family and friends. By chance, someone in the publishing world read it and guided the story through to publication.

Sometimes, Santa does indeed exist. Nancy Dorman-Hickson

(For more reviews see southernliving.com.)