cover image A Christmas Passage

A Christmas Passage

David Saperstein, George Samerjan, . . Kensington, $12.95 (274pp) ISBN 978-0-7582-2579-5

A group of travelers get to know one another under unlikely circumstances in Saperstein and Samerjan's slightly supernatural and hokey holiday tale. After a flight is canceled, the stranded passengers get a lift from a Good Samaritan, but when the van breaks down during a snowstorm, the group searches out shelter and happens upon a remote cabin, where they meet Joshua, who knows far too much about their private pasts. In coming together to create a Christmas Eve they all will remember, they put their ghosts to rest and learn to trust and love their fellow man once again. Saperstein and Samerjan, unfortunately, have a clumsy touch, and their too deliberate handling of characters' traumas really curdles the eggnog. (Oct.)