Sixty years after his father left to be a mapmaker in the war in Europe, Emerson Johansson received a package that had been lost in the mail for decades. An exquisite book, lovingly handmade by his father, details an extraordinary adventure they shared together just months before his departure. Setting out into the mountains on Christmas Eve to cut a tree, they find themselves in a dangerous blizzard. Lost in the snow, they are helped by a mysterious silvery man who does not speak but leaves them a series of gifts that help them find their way home. The enigmatic man's image is not captured in the photographs the boy took with his new camera, pictures he believed, until now, were long lost. Little did he know that his father had taken the photographs with him to the battlefield, and drawing on vellum overlays, meticulously reconstructed, mapped, and narrated their adventure, revealing that the curious man in the woods was, in fact, no stranger, but somebody well known to us all. This book, destined to become a Christmas classic, is a faithful facsimile of the magnificent hand-crafted present Johansson's father sent him. Featuring a a lively combination of maps, drawings, watercolors, and photographs, The Lost Christmas Gift is a poignant reminder that the best gifts, of memory, family, and the kindness of strangers, transcend time but never our understanding.
Due to overwhelming demand for this book, we are temporarily out-of-stock. You can find Lost Christmas Gift at select Barnes & Nobles stores (type your zip code in on their web site to find the store closest to you with copies available.)
San Jose Mercury News:
"I was deeply touched by a most extraordinary new work that is destined to become a yuletide classic. The Lost Christmas Gift, sensitively written by Andrew Beckham, is a book within a book. It is the remarkable story of a superbly handcrafted tome sent to a boy by his mapmaker dad deployed to Europe during World War II. The parcel, however, gets lost in the mail. Seven decades later, it arrives -- to the stupendous joy of the recipient. Like me, you will marvel at this tale. And perhaps have a tear in your eye by book's end."
"A new take on an ancient story."
Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams and Of Wolves and Men:
"In The Lost Christmas Gift, Andrew Beckham brings us a wondrous, eerily timeless story about love, survival, war, ceremony, family, and magic. He delivers us to the realm of the marvelous."
Book Riot:
"You could buy this for the production values alone, but the story is absolutely mesmerizing. A parcel arrives, lost in the mail since World War II. Inside is a handmade book from a father to his little boy at home, tracing a winter adventure with photos, drawings, and delicate maps. Youll ask yourself if the package is real. It doesnt matter."
