One Christmas Morning

A woman gets a chance to change her life in Greenlaw’s nuanced debut, a twist on A Christmas Carol. Workaholic Eva begrudgingly travels from London to the moors of Cornwall with her assistant, Diana, and husband, James, to attend Christmas hosted by her friend Hallie at Penhallow, the former home of Eva’s grandmother, who died three years before the start of the book, around the same time Eva experienced a devastating miscarriage. Despite James’s ultimatum that if she leaves, they’re finished, Eva tries to return to London on Christmas Eve to ensure all is ready for the opening of her new home goods shop. But her grandmother’s ghost stops her on the road and sends her on a very different journey. With Gran’s supernatural intervention, Eva inhabits the bodies of Diana and Hallie, among others. As she views life through the perspectives of those around her, she begins to understand how her obsession with success has affected her friendships and her marriage. When Eva gets a chance at a do-over for the events of Christmas Eve, she sets out to repair her fractured relationships before it’s too late. Greenlaw’s modern take on a classic is enhanced by multidimensional characters and their realistically complex relationships. The result is a heartwarming tale about prioritizing the things that matter most in life. Agent: Allison Hunter, Trellis Literary. (Oct.)