In this speculative novel, two young women are invested in finding the truth about Christmasville, a town where it’s always December or January, and which exists outside normal space and time.

Esmeralda lives in Christmasville, a small American town where inhabitants live a “Groundhog Day”-like existence. It’s always winter and no one gets old or sick. The town people’s memories are sketchy – they don’t recognize their own relatives or know their own history – but the discovery of a library book, A Brief History of Christmasville, prompts Esmeralda to seek the truth of what happened to her parents and brother, all of whom vanished in an explosion.

In a second timeline, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, sometime around 1970, Madeleine and her family are preparing for Christmas. Their traditions include building Christmasville, a model town and train set her father constructs every year. Madeleine has an inherited gift, an ability to perceive things others cannot, but she’s also affected by headaches. She knows Christmasville is a real place—and somewhere she needs to visit. It may even save her life.

Author Michael Dutton has created an imaginative and charming world in Christmasville. The town comes to life in great detail, through well-constructed descriptions. In both timelines, the story and characters offer a lot of charm and gentle humor.

However, Finding Christmasville is the second in a series, and the author assumes a level of familiarity that makes this a challenging read. Without any context, it’s hard to follow the story. In both arcs, the narrative drive is derailed by long digressions about Christmas shopping, making of wreaths and observing friends and acquaintances go about mundane daily tasks. Moments of high drama, including a chase through woods, are bogged down with purple prose. Although Madeleine’s story offers a satisfying conclusion, Esmeralda’s narrative is left unresolved.

Despite being warm and heartfelt, Finding Christmasville lacks narrative drive and cannot be read as a standalone novel.

Also available as an ebook.