Thursday 7 January 2016

EVANGELINE JENNINGS - NO CHRISTMAS (2014)


Synopsis/blurb….

At the age of fourteen, life is already a struggle for Abigail Torres but at least she has Shelby, her family's own Christmas miracle.

A heartwarming tale of faith and conservative family values, NO CHRISTMAS is the twelfth and final release of the 2014 Pankhearst Singles Club. Small, perfectly formed, and mad as hell.

Another shortish tale to bump up the reading figures and try to get me into double digits for the month.

A spin on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol again with sections PAST (set in 2015), PRESENT (set in 2018), FUTURE.

PAST – Poverty, we have a family worn down and in trouble. Four mouths to feed, a father working all hours every day including Christmas to provide. A miracle baby, Shelby leaving six-figure hospital bills.

PRESENT – Our provider is dead – cancer. Our young narrator is pregnant and attending state-mandated counselling.

FUTURE – We don’t have one.

Powerful and emotive. A rage against a system that infringes on the rights of pregnant women to make personal choices best suited for their circumstances. In the land of the free, there is no freedom.

In our counselling session……I had hoped – against the odds – this might be a sympathetic session. God knows I could use some help. But obviously not. Lisa Shannon’s smile is as fake as her nails, her hair color, and claim to care about me. Her eyes reveal the truth. In their cold steel gaze, I read contempt and condescension. Lisa is playing a game and cases like mine are how the bitch keeps score. Those hard grey eyes dismiss me and drop back to her tablet.

Describing the process….. obsessive detail. It’s her pornography. She leaves me feeling repulsed and guilty as hell.

On anesthetic…….”Perhaps you should consider local anesthetic? Or would that feel too much like complicity?”

Hard-hitting and thought provoking – an imagined near future when the Christian right hold all the aces. Watch this space……

4.5 from 5

Evangeline Jennings is a blog favourite and has featured on the blog before.


Keep up to speed with the Pankhearst Singles Club here.


She was kind enough to ping me this one.

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like a really powerful story, Col. And, sad to say, not unimaginable, and that's what makes it all the more potent. Glad you thought it a good read.

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    1. Margot, it really is and sadly when you have doctors and nurses targeted on occasions for offering certain services to women, it doesn't seem a million miles off.

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  2. This sounds absolutely tremendous, Col -- many thanks for the headsup.

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    1. Definitely a totally different spin from J.A. Kazimer's interpretation which I read around the same time. Much harder-hitting in my opinion.

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  3. Dark and too close to reality? I'm not sure, Col.

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  4. Blimey, sounds a bit unseasonal. For when I'm feeling strong...

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    1. Thought provoking and she doesn't pull any punches.

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  5. Maybe too dark for me, Col. Glad you enjoyed it.

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