Just eight days after its release, Christmas at Hembry Castle is a Barnes and Noble bestseller, landing at #3 on the Historical Fiction 19th Century list between News of the World by Paulette Jiles and Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict. My book is next to Tom Hanks’ face. What else could a girl want for the holidays?

Christmas at Hembry Castle also had a BN sales rank of 412 overall at the time of this writing. Maybe you’d like to see that too.

Christmas at Hembry Castle had been hovering in the 400,000 range on BN. Then yesterday morning it was 716 overall and then a few hours later it dropped to 416. As I said in this post, I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to finish the novella in time to release it this year. I’m sure glad I did.

Why Do Readers Love Christmas at Hembry Castle?

What is it about Christmas at Hembry Castle that is catching on? Well, it’s a Christmas story at Christmas time, and this year more than ever I think we could all use a little holiday cheer. Of course, the novella was written in the tradition of A Christmas Carol, meddling ghost included, and who doesn’t love A Christmas Carol?

Over this past week I’ve received several messages from fans, and for a writer, hearing from fans is more precious than gold. Lovely notes from readers remind me why I continue to write after all these years. Then Christmas at Hembry Castle was noticed in a few places, and then the friendly Nook folks at BN saw it and bought it. The gorgeous cover from Jenny Q has been a great help, I’m sure, because it’s so eye-catching.

For those of you who bought the book, I hope you’re enjoying it. That’s why I wrote it, after all. That, and to give us all a lighthearted break from the year that was 2020.