Book 66 of 50 Book Challenge, Book 5 of Christmas Spirit Challenge
About the first third of the book is a preamble – telling the story of Layla’s life before and with St. Nicholas. Much of it is familiar from the earlier book. But around the time the Mayflower sailed, the Santa gang decided that Nicholas really had to sail to the New World so as to establish Christmas traditions before the Puritans snuffed out the holiday spirit for ever and all time. Layla stayed behind in London, where the Puritans were beginning to have their way with England.
Layla tells the story of how they invented candy canes and the Queen loved them. Then the Revolution came and Layla’s name was on the hit list so she fled to Canterbury. The Puritans took power and outlawed Christmas. Layla and her bud, Arthur (of Camelot) planned a great big Christmas demonstration in protest.
The climax of the story involves the baddies arresting our heroes a few days in advance. But behold, the demonstration happens anyway and that is How Mrs. Claus Saves Christmas.
I didn’t quite enjoy this story as much as the previous one. However, Guinn does a fine job of taking pieces of history like the Puritan Revolution and putting them into the fanciful context of Santa Claus. That makes these books worth reading.