book details

Book: Gift of the Magpie by Zoe M. McCarthy

categories: Book, Clean Romance, Contemporary Romance, Christmas Romance, Christian Fiction, Inspirational Romance, Sweet Romance, Christian Romance

Zoe M. McCarthy

about this book: One day, I was looking at several Christmas book covers on Amazon. I wondered if I could write a book that would lift readers' Christmas spirits. O. Henry's story, "Gift of the Magi," popped into my mind. Remember, that's the story where a couple agonizes over the gift they'll get each other for Christmas. She cuts and sells her hair to buy a chain for his treasured watch, and he sells his watch to buy her a comb for her treasured hair.

On the heels of that thought, "Gift of the Magpie" flashed in my brain. I thought, how could I write a winter romance named Gift of the Magpie—without the bird. And something very different than O. Henry's tale. Scenes for a story filled my mind.

About that time, I read an interview in which author David Baldacci said, "If you can take a little slice of the world and a little piece of dirt and really focus on details, you can drive large, seemingly spectacular movements." I thought a snowstorm in a place where they don't have enough snowplows to handle the roads, would limit the world. I picked Richmond, Virginia where I lived for about 30 years. The area between, and including, the hero's and heroine's houses was "a little piece of dirt." So, on that limited turf, I focused on the details and the relationship between two opposites.

Amanda and Cam's story was born in "Gift of the Magpie", a book that can lift reader's spirits at Christmas or any time of the year.