Silent Days, Holy Nights by Phyllis Clark Nichols (Excerpt & #Giveaway)


Welcome to my tour stop! Read an excerpt and enter the giveaway below...

Silent Days, Holy Nights
By Phyllis Clark Nichols
Christian Women's Fiction, Christmas
Paperback & ebook, 229 Pages
October 30th 2018 by Gilead Publishing

Summary

The sounds of Christmases past echo through a silent house...

Everyone in town knows Emerald Crest, the green granite mansion atop the highest hill: the legendary, lavish Christmas festivities that used to light up the nights— and the silence that followed when the parties abruptly stopped many years ago. And everyone has heard whispers about the reclusive, mysterious master of the manor, Henry Lafferty the Second . . .

When eleven-year-old Julia Russell steps into the great house for the first time and meets Mr. Lafferty, the entire course of her life is altered. She meets a man who is nothing at all like the rumors she’s heard from neighbors and classmates. He’s kind and extraordinarily talented—he also happens to be deaf and uses a wheelchair. And when she overhears a secret about him, Julia decides it’s time for the town to bring Christmas back to Emerald Crest—an act that will change them all forever.

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Excerpt

Dad parked the car, and we climbed the front steps. He let me ring the bell. Lights flickered in several places inside the house.

This time, Mrs. Schumacher answered the door. I’d heard Mom say she was the housekeeper who came to clean and do the cooking. She introduced herself to me and then pointed down the hall to the glassed-in room where the piano was and said, “Come with me, and I’ll get Mr. Lafferty. He’s in the garden.”

“Wait,” Dad said. “If he’s in the garden, could we watch him from the window for just a moment?”

“Certainly, Mr. Russell, but he might have seen the lights flicker when you rang the bell.”

“Try to stay quiet, Julia, and don’t make any sudden movements.” We practically tiptoed down the hollow hall into the garden room. There stood the piano, and beyond was the garden.

The afternoon sun was so bright that Mr. Lafferty hadn’t noticed the flashing lights when the bell rang, and so bright I could barely make out more than his silhouette. He sat in his wheelchair on the brick garden path with his back to the window.

Dad motioned for me to step closer.

I did, and I could see color. Mr. Lafferty and his plaids. He had a plaid blanket across his shoulders and a different plaid tam on his head. But I noticed his right arm was stretched straight out from his body and his palm was up.

Then I saw it—his amazing gift. I stepped even closer to the window just to be certain what I thought I saw was real. It was.

About the Author

Phyllis Clark Nichols’s character-driven Southern fiction explores profound human questions using the imagined residents of small town communities you just know you’ve visited before. With a strong faith and a love for nature, art, music, and ordinary people, she tells redemptive tales of loss and recovery, estrangement and connection, longing and fulfillment . . . often through surprisingly serendipitous events.

Phyllis grew up in the deep shade of magnolia trees in South Georgia. Born during a hurricane, she is no stranger to the winds of change: In addition to her life as a novelist, Phyllis is a seminary graduate, concert pianist, and cofounder of a national cable network with health- and disability-related programming. Regardless of the role she’s playing, Phyllis brings creativity and compelling storytelling.

She frequently appears at conventions, conferences, civic groups, and churches, performing half-hour musical monologues that express her faith, joy, and thoughts about life—all with the homespun humor and gentility of a true Southern woman.

Phyllis currently serves on several nonprofit boards. She lives in the Texas Hill Country with her portrait-artist husband.


Tour Schedule

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Tour-Wide Giveaway


(1) winner will receive (US only):
  • a print copy of Silent Days, Holy Night by Phyllis Clark Nichols
  • a print copy of Sleigh Bells Ring by various authors
Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight December 10, 2018 and last through 11:59pm December 17, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
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