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    The Christmas Pearl
    The Christmas Pearl
    The Christmas Pearl
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Christmas Pearl

    Written by Dorothea Benton Frank

    Narrated by Celia Weston

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.

    What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?

    Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 23, 2007
    ISBN9780061555312
    The Christmas Pearl
    Author

    Dorothea Benton Frank

    New York Times bestseller Dorothea Benton Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, South Carolina. Until her passing in 2019, Dorothea and her husband split their time between New Jersey and South Carolina. A contemporary voice of the South, Dorothea Benton Frank was beloved by fans and friends alike since her debut novel Sullivans Island. Readers from coast to coast fell for the quick wit and the signature humor that permeated her many bestselling novels.

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    Reviews for The Christmas Pearl

    4/5

    58 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Title: The Christmas Pearl
      Author: Dorothea Benton Frank (Performed by Celia Weston)
      Genre: Fiction - Holiday
      Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Book Around the States Challenge, Winter Reading Challenge 2010, Read and Review Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge, 100 Reading Challenge, Audio Book Challenge 2010, Pages Read 2010, A to Z challenge,

      Rating: 5/5
      No. of Pages: 176 (Audio)
      Published: 2007


      Back Cover: Theodora is the matriarch of the family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she’s finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.

      What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother’s beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?

      Luckily a special someone hearing Theodora’s plea for help arrives, pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora’s Christmas the love-filled miracle it’s meant to be.
      Mine: What a wonderful “Spirit” of Christmas tale. The true spirit of Pearl comes to Teddy when she needs it most to help – her whole wacky family comes to celebrate the holiday. The outrageous cavorting is bright to light, the children’s misbehaving is corrected and in the end all is well. Christmas is finally found in an around everyone’s heart.
    • 3/5
      A heartwarming e-short story to set the mood for Christmas and its traditions--- of course set in the low country in South Carolina. 93 yr old Theodora grew up in a happy southern home and has fond dreams of Christmas past and all it joy it brought. Now traditions have gone by the wayside and she has grown to despise it.

      While she was growing up her favorite person was their former housekeeper Pearl. However, Pearl died years ago. However, Christmas is a time for miracles so Pearl shows up to fix this family and their issues.
      Granting wishes – a miracle happens and Pearl shows up to fix this family. A cute story for a cold winter evening by the fire with a bit of nostalgia and some recipes to boot.
    • 3/5
      A gentle little Christmas story, The Christmas Pearl might be a little too sentimental for some. It's quick to read and I thought it was a perfect bedtime read for the holiday season.
    • 5/5
      Perfect narrator for this story! A lovely Christmas time tale.
    • 3/5
      Theodora, the 93-year-old matriarch of a Charleston mansion, has all the family members home for Christmas. They seem to have lost the meaning of family and Christmas making Theodora one disappointed and saddened great-grandma. Suddenly, her current maid is called away on an emergency and Theodora's maid from her childhood comes back from the dead to straighten the family out.I was enjoying learning about the traditions this great-grandma experienced as a child, but then the "ghost" appeared and my interest vanished. (Ha! There was no pun intended there.) Knowing I could handle ghosts (due to my successful reading of The Graveyard Book), I refocused to finish it out. There was too much family drama to be turned into happy-happy joy-joy with just the click of the fingers. It just didn't work for me. Bah humbug. (2.5/5)Originally posted on: "Thoughts of Joy..."
    • 4/5
      The Christmas Pearl by Dorothea Benton FrankLove pearls and the holiday so figured this would be a good read.Setting is weeks before Christmas and everybody chips in to decorate. The family and their family and their family will all be together under the same roof.Liked hearing of the ghosts that show themselves during the family's stay. Pearl is there to help get it all straight.Clean slate drinks were passed around and Theador waited for it to happen......everybody spoke what was on their mind and it wasn't always nice things to say...Just a handful know of Pearl's powers...she recreated past holidays and everything about them.Lots of recipes, what a treasure!I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 5/5
      I loved this. It was so nice to read a Christmas story that was focused on family rather than on Boy Meets Girl.
    • 5/5
      i wished there were a 10 star rating to give. this book and even more the narrator deserves it. i will look for more books read by Celia Weston right away.
    • 3/5
      Sweet, quick book to jump-start the holidays. Family lives, past and present with a touch of help from the paranormal. Lots of southern charm from an author I love.
    • 3/5
      This is a quaint story revolving around Theodora, a 93 year old matriarch, whose family have come home (a home where she grew up in and now lives in with her daughter and son-in-law) to spend Christmas in Charleston South Carolina. This family has become quite dysfuntional, selfish and self-centered over time, and Theodora is quite concerned about what will become of the family. She reminisces about her youth with "Pearl" her grandmother's friend, confident and family help. When Elise, her cook and in-home help has to leave unexpectantly due to her grandchild's birth, she assures Theodora that her friend Jewel will fill in. After a fitful sleep, Theodora wakes up to the arrival of the emergency help who just happens to be the ghost of Pearl, there to help the family to earn her wings. Pearl is armed with a few magical tricks, along with to common-sense and know-how, and she whips everyone into gear. A sweet story very common at Christmas time and a quick read.
    • 4/5
      What a delightful Christmas story! 93 year old Theodora grew up in a happy home ( the home her and her children still live in) full of love, laughter and respect with great traditions every Christmas, but Theodora’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are the complete opposite and poor Theodora doesn’t know how to fix it. While growing up Theodora’s family had a housekeeper/cook/friend named Pearl who always made everything better Theodora wishes she could find another Pearl to fix her family but Pearl has been dead many years. But Christmas is a time for miracles and getting what you wish for; Christmas starts out awful for this family till a miracle named Pearl, working on getting her wings, and swoops in to fix this family.This was a great story humorous and touching all about family and just what that means, also about miracles and believing in them. What was great was it was never preachy but just a great story. If only we all had a Pearl of our own to fix all the ills in our own family!If you are looking for a good Christmas story give this one a try!4 Stars
    • 2/5
      Theodora is the elderly matriarch of an old Southern family. She is nostalgic for the Christmas celebrations of her childhood. She fondly remembers the weeks of preparation to decorate, cook, and fashion gifts, all of which just heightened the anticipation. Now her 60-something daughter and son-in-law (Barbara & Cleland) are living with her in the family's Charleston mansion. And their two grown children – Camille and George – have arrived with their families: children Andrew and Teddie, and George's third wife, Lynnette. Despite the season all they do is snipe at one another, complain and generally misbehave.

      Don't they realize this may be Theodora's last Christmas? Can't they put aside their mean-spiritedness and truculent behavior for a few days? Theodora doesn't know how to get the kind of Christmas she wants – the kind that she had with her own grandmother, and her grandmother's housekeeper, Pearl.

      I did like the messages Dorothea Benton Frank was trying to impart here: a focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the value of family, the meaning behind traditions; but I didn't think she did a good job of imparting those lessons.

      Even so, I was with the story up until the magic started happening. Theodora just irritated me. By her own account she did little but wring her hands for 60 years over her descendants's bad behavior. She confesses to having failed to help her daughter grow up to be a woman, a mother, a wife, a matriarch. So suddenly, because a ghost of her grandmother's housekeeper arrives, all is going to be perfect? I disliked the family. I didn't relate to the excesses of their lifestyle or way of celebrating, and I didn't believe in their transformation.

      It was a quick read, and it did make me think of my own family traditions and celebrations, so I give it 2 stars.
    • 2/5
      Every Christmas, I must read at least one new Christmas story. The Christmas Pearl flew into my hands as that book. Unfortunately, The Christmas Pearl, does not stand as one of the better Christmas books I have read. The story rests on the magic of Christmas, but steps a little too far into unbelievable. The antics of ghostly Pearl bring laughter, and too much gibberish to the story. The small collection of Christmas pictures creates a better atmosphere than the story. I felt like I was back in college and reading early writers of Southern fiction. Frank has too many story book endings for this tale of family squabbling and dissention.
    • 4/5
      This was another feel-good Christmas book. Family squabbles, infidelities, insolent children, and a holiday run by commercialism sets the scene. Enter a Christmas "angel" in the form of a resurrected Gullah housekeeper to set things straight and you have a recipe for good reading. This is a very short one, high on Christmas magic with a dab of why Christ is the root of Christmas. You will smile as you read it.

      Recommended Holiday Reading.
    • 5/5
      I love this sweet story! I love a wonderful Christmas story. This is now on my favorites list.