“About a year ago, I felt the urge to read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,” says Holly Maholm. “What I didn’t expect was to sob, almost uncontrollably, after reading the story. I know what it’s like to be abandoned by those who have said they love me, and I realized I had to share those feelings.”
In her contemporary take on the holiday classic, Brave in Ribbons, Maholm revisits the original Dickens’ classic to set the stage for a new host of characters and a contemporary holiday story. Readers will recognize the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future and will quickly find themselves attached to the colorful and heartfelt cast of Brave in Ribbons, including a recently deceased brother, his three daughters and his transgender sister, Connie.
A retired lawyer and widower, Tommy passes away and arrives in the afterlife, where he is given a Guide to help him. Soon after, Tommy realizes he has lost touch with the “true meaning of Christmas.” He begins his search for meaning by visiting a place in the afterlife called The Village — where, surprisingly, the leader is Satan (but in the Village he calls himself Stan). Tommy and his Guide are appalled by how Stan has changed A Christmas Carol, and they agree Tommy must return to the world of the living to check in on his three daughters and younger sister.
Tommy’s Guide and Stan serve as Tommy’s Christmas Ghosts, and they take Tommy back to see if his daughters have kept their deathbed promise to include Connie in their Christmas celebrations.
A story of family, love, devotion and sacrifice, Brave in Ribbons:
- Breaks through boundaries of traditional Christmas stories by including a transgender character
- Reminds us the meaning of Christmas is to give freely and joyously to all those in need
- Encourages families to accept those members who may be “different”
- Cautions people that their actions – both intentional and unintentional – can cause others to feel abandoned and rejected
- Gently reinforces the Golden Rule that we are all deserving of love and acceptance
“We need to find a place of renewal in our hearts,” asserts Maholm, “so we can rekindle the true joy of Christmas by sharing that joy with those less fortunate.”
Holly Maholm is a transgender woman who was born John S. Oney. She is a graduate of Yale University and The Ohio State University School of Law. She worked as a senior attorney for a major sports marketing agency until she retired in 2004 and went into private practice. She has been married twice and actively co-parented her three daughters from her first marriage. Maholm began her transition to living full-time as a woman in 2013. She is the author of several stage and screen plays and two novels: When Once I Lived (2011), and Brave in Ribbons(November, 2015). She lives in Cleveland, OH and is an active member of the local LGBTQ community.
Learn more about Maholm at www.braveinribons.com.
Brave in Ribbons will available November 1, 2015 on www.braveinribons.com and Amazon.
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