The Christmas Child
Hesba Stretton
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Oct. 16, 2015)
Miss Priscilla Parry, a passionately independent woman, lived on a farmstead and helped to raise her two nieces. Inspired by the Biblical Christmas story, the children Rhoda and Joan had a habit of visiting their barn manger every Christmas to look for a child. One day Rhoda mysteriously disappeared and a search began. The Christmas Child’s message is to learn to forgive especially when it is very difficult to forgive. Luke 11:4—"And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” Hesba Stretton was the nom de plume of Sarah Smith, an English author of children's literature. The name Hesba came from the initials of her siblings. She was the daughter of a bookseller from Wellington, Shropshire, but around 1867 she moved south and lived at Snaresbrook and Loughton near Epping Forest and at Ham, near Richmond, Surrey. Her moral tales and semi-religious stories, chiefly for the young, were printed in huge quantities, and were especially widespread as school and Sunday school prizes. She won wide acceptance in English homes from the publication of Jessica's First Prayer in 1867. She was a regular contributor to Household Words and All the Year Round during Charles Dickens' editorship, and wrote upwards of 40 novels.