Love, Holly

Stone (One Last Gift) dazzles in this emotional and immersive holiday romance. Holly Griffin meets a handsome stranger at a café on Christmas Eve and sparks fly, but she forgets all about their romantic connection when, later that night while driving her pregnant sister, Lily, she gets into a car accident. Lily miscarries as a result, leaving the women painfully estranged. Being cut off from her family makes the holidays hard, so in the ensuing years, artistic, freethinker Holly joins a group of pen pals to process her grief and loneliness. This year, after she receives a letter from Emma Tooley, an elderly woman who expresses her own regret about losing contact with her grandson, Jack, Holly sets out to reunite them in time for Christmas. When she discovers that Jack is the handsome stranger from the café, she thinks it might be fate. Jack has baggage of his own, but as he, Holly, and Emma navigate their relationships with each other, all learn stirring lessons about the meaning of family, the preciousness of time, and the strength in forgiveness. Readers should have tissues at the ready. Agent: Cara Lee Simpson, Peters Fraser + Dunlop. (Oct.)