Gerald Everett Jones

Christmas Karma Gerald Everett Jones

Christmas Karma is author Gerald Everett Jones's homage to Anne Tyler, whom he regards as his literary mother. It's about the travails of a dysfunctional family around the holidays, narrated by an angel who has a wicked sense of humor. Main character Willa Nawicki is bewildered by a series of curious karmic events that literally ring her doorbell during the frantic season, awakening years-old resentments and stimulating ever-more-intense personal confrontations. These bizarre visitations include a grizzled old man claiming to be her father, who has been missing for some thirty years but now says the title to the family home is in his name - and now he wants the place back. As the angel observes, "The surest way to invoke the laughter of the universe is to make plans, particularly devious ones."