Uncharted Christmas by Keeley Brooke Keith
Inspirational holiday novella
October 4, 2022 Edenbrooke Press, 58 pp
$12.99
Buy on Barnes and Noble
About the Book
As Dr. Lydia Bradshaw makes her rounds in the village of Good
Springs this Christmas season, each family she visits seems to be blessed in
ways she is not. All the homes are beautifully decorated for the holiday, and
every woman is expecting another baby.
Every
woman but her, that is.
While
the haze from the volcanic ash cloud outside the Land looms on the horizon,
calls for the doctor force Lydia to work around the clock. Torn between
fighting for the home life she craves and the career that defines her, Lydia
needs a Christmas miracle.
Meanwhile,
at Falls Creek…
Philip
Roberts spends his lonely nights in the parsonage next to the humble chapel.
Pastoring the church across from the Land’s only inn means encouraging many a
road-worn traveler to carry on, whatever their journey might be. Philip also
watches the ever-changing rotation of guests for the one person he prays will
stay at Falls Creek forever.
Only
he doesn’t know her name.
When
the Vestal siblings break their journey to Good Springs at the inn for a much
needed respite over Christmas, Philip is fascinated with the demure Lena
Vestal. As he tries to get to know her, she stirs in him more questions than
answers.
Can he discover who this intriguing woman truly is in such a short time, and is she the one he’s been waiting for?
My Review
With so much on her
plate, Dr. Lydia Bradshaw, the first female doctor in the unmapped island Land’s
unofficial capital city of Good Springs, an anomaly of a twenty-first near
future isolated culture stagnated in nineteenth century traditional religious
mores, has fallen into a routine of nearly 24/7 medical care. A strange haze
has entangled the Land for the past few months, and Lydia is certain that murkiness
and unusual weather has peaked worries and unnatural fears in elders and
children alike. She is working herself to an exhausted frenzy yet resents the
help sent by the elders and approved by her husband without even consulting
her. As Christmas approaches, Lydia is hard put to be thankful, especially
after she believes she’s found a new treatment and a new potential hazard to
the Land and no one believes her. A parallel story to Lydia’s takes place at
our favorite inn in Fall Creek hinting at answered prayers for their overseer
pastor’s desire to cure his singleness.
It’s Christmas
blessings all around, with a special reason to rejoice and a new mystery in the
Land Uncharted.
Uncharted Christmas is a lovely quick holiday gem, coming home to the people we’ve come to love in Keeley Brooke Keith’s Uncharted series. Told mostly in the perspectives of Lydia and Philip, readers are drawn into their world.
About the Author
Keely Brooke
Keith writes inspirational frontier-style fiction with a slight Sci-Fi twist,
including The Land
Uncharted (Shelf Unbound
Notable Romance 2015) and Aboard Providence (2017 INSPY Awards Longlist).
Born in St.
Joseph, Missouri, Keely was a tree-climbing, baseball-loving 80s kid. She grew
up in a family who moved often, which fueled her dreams of faraway lands. When
she isn’t writing, Keely enjoys teaching home school lessons and playing bass
guitar. Keely, her husband, and their daughter live on a hilltop south of
Nashville, Tennessee.