Covid-19 And Christmas 2020 – During The Holidays Find Inspiration, Healing And Promise For The Future With A New Christmas Book By Award Winning Author Donna Fletcher Crow

    WILMINGTON, NC, November 12, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Award winning author Donna Fletcher Crow, has announced the release of a new Christmas book just in time for the 2020 Holiday Season. 'A Lighted Lamp,' Scenes of Christmas Through Time, allows readers to experience Christmases ranging from Scotland a thousand years ago to modern England, with visits to the American west in between, as people through the ages find strength and promise for the future in the season. Celebrate in locations as diverse as a Scottish court, a Regency country house, a pioneer shack, and a contemporary English monastery. Customs have changed, struggles have varied, but one constant has remained—Christmas has never failed to bring hope and joy.

Crow explained her motivation for writing this book: "All around me I am hearing people express their worries about Christmas this year. How can we celebrate in the midst of a pandemic, especially where many areas are reaching new spikes? How can it be a season of joy when I am cut off from my family by travel restrictions? What will Christmas be like when experts say even singing carols presents a danger?

"I wanted to do something to shed light in the darkness, to bring a ray of hope amidst fear. In looking back over my 50-some published books, I realized how all my characters had faced situations, often as dire as our own. Each one of them struggled with the problems and challenges of their day. Yet, in all times and places, Christmas has never failed to bring its special gift of joy and healing to their unique conflicts.

"Using events from my novels, I have shaped a collection of short stories to share these experiences with my readers, desiring that they will find inspiration for their own situations this year as we face our own dilemmas of how to observe the up-coming festive season in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, economic loss, and for many, even personal grief.

"It is my hope that readers will delight as: Queen Margaret reforms manners at the Scottish court with a deft touch of gift-giving; young Bors faces family hostilities when he is sent home after the great fire that destroyed Glastonbury Abbey; Georgiana Somerset grapples with conflicting emotions amidst a whirl of Regency merrymaking at Badminton House; Kathryn discovers renewed strength to carry on in a homestead shack in the Idaho desert; her daughter Elizabeth manages to find reasons to celebrate in the depths of the Great Depression; as does her daughter in the midst of the turbulence of the 1970s; and finally, an American woman finds the light of hope in a contemporary monastery in England as she works with troubled teens.

"It's no accident that, at least in the western hemisphere, Christmas comes at the darkest, coldest time of the year. From earliest days people have yearned for peace, for beauty, for warmth, and this longing has expressed itself through the ages in our annual high festival of light."

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 50 books, mostly novels of British history. She has taken a number of high-level industry awards for her work. 'Glastonbury' is her best-known book, which received the prestigious First Place, Historical Novel, award from the National Federation of Press Women. Readers and reviewers have raved about 'Glastonbury', calling it "The best of its kind," "richly fascinating," "beautifully researched," "gloriously evocative," and "panoramic." One Amazon reader said, "WHAT a work! Every reader can be enveloped in the sheer scope and quality, every historian be constantly nodding at the precise detail and accuracy, and every Christian can rejoice in the fullness of scripture. For me it is simply beyond descriptive praise. I would urge all who value truth to treat themselves to a feast."

The Monastery Murders Series features atmospheric contemporary crimes with their roots buried deep in the middle ages. Books in the series include 'A Very Private Grave', 'A Darkly Hidden Truth', 'An Unholy Communion', 'A Newly Crimsoned Reliquary', 'An All-Consuming Fire' and the newly-released 'Against All Fierce Hostility.'

The Daughters of Courage, 'Kathryn', 'Elizabeth' and 'Stephanie' is a pioneer family saga based on the stories of Crow's own family and other Idaho pioneers in the Kuna, Nampa and Boise area. A short story on her blog entitled "A Nostalgic Fourth of July" is based on a scene from 'Kathryn: Days of Loss and Hope'.

Where There is Love is a 6-book series of the enduring legacy of love and faith all based on historic people and events. The titles are: 'Where Love Begins', 'Where Love Illumines', 'Where Love Triumphs', 'Where Love Restores', 'Where Love Shines', and 'Where Love Calls'.

The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries is a literary suspense series using literary figures as background: Rudyard Kipling in 'The Flame Ignites', Dorothy L Sayers in 'The Shadow of Reality', Shakespeare in 'A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare', and Jane Austen in both 'A Jane Austen Encounter' and 'A Most Singular Venture'. Watch for 'A Prodigious Sum of Corpses: Seeking Sanditon at Jane Austen's Seashore', which will take readers to all of Austen's favorite seashore resorts. Accounts of Crow's visits to these sites are available on her blog under the heading "Jane Austen Seashore Tour."

The Lord Danvers Victorian true-crime series is an Amazon bestseller in the British Detectives category. Books in the series include 'A Lethal Spectre', 'A Most Inconvenient Death', 'Grave Matters', 'To Dust You Shall Return' and 'A Tincture of Murder'. Donna provides a no-charge download of 'A Tincture of Murder' for those who sign up for her newsletter. More information is available at her website.

Donna Fletcher Crow's awards include:

Where Love Begins, Best Historical Romance, Pinnacle Awards 2019
A Lethal Spectre, Best Mystery, Pinnacle Awards, 2019
Glastonbury, First Place, Historical Fiction, National Federation of Press Women Award of Merit
The Banks of the Boyne, Silver Angel; First Place Historical Fiction, National Federation Press Women
The Fields of Bannockburn, First Place Historical Fiction, National Federation Press Women
Professional Achievement Award, Northwest Nazarene College
Juvenile Books Award of Merit, Idaho Press Women
Top Idaho Author
Pacesetter Award, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference
Outstanding Historical Fiction, Idaho Press Women, National Federation of Press Women,
Idaho Writer of the Year
Best Inspirational Novel, Finalist Romance Writers of America
Writer of the Year, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference

Donna is available for media interviews and can be reached by email at [email protected]. All of her books are available at online book retailers. More information, including a no-charge download of 'A Tincture of Murder', is available at her website at https://www.donnafletchercrow.com.

Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 15 grandchildren living on 3 continents. Donna is a former English literature teacher and lifelong Anglophile. Idahoans with long memories will remember her as a former Queen of the Snake River Stampede, Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up for Miss Rodeo America. She is an enthusiastic gardener.

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