Strike the Harp!

Strike the Harp! is destined to become an American holiday classic. Acclaimed author Owen Parry celebrates the season with five deeply moving Yuletide tales that span a century of American life to reveal the eternal message and spirit of Christmas.

Building on the success of Parry's beloved Our Simple Gifts, these diverse stories are rich with wonderfully human characters who lead us from sorrow to shining joy, against the background of a growing nation:

• A nineteenth-century mining town -- On Christmas Eve an aging company policeman finds himself caught between powerful colliery lords and ragged strikers ... and between his lifelong beliefs and a changing world.


• Occupied Germany, 1918 -- To lull the homesickness of his soldiers, an American colonel stages a holiday dinner for the war's forgotten victims in a story that echoes the family separations of our own time.


• The Roaring Twenties -- Amid the excesses of the Prohibition era, a ne'er-do-well's hilarious night of chicanery and wild parties teaches him more than he planned to learn about the season's indestructible spirit.


• The Great Depression -- A waitress at work on a bleak Christmas Eve receives a gift that changes her life forever.


• Cold War America -- In an unforgettable family tale that re-creates an age already lost, a child of privilege learns of the sorrow behind a mountain of gifts.

Changed by sudden kindness, generosity, and sacrifice, Owen Parry's characters bring the timeless spirit of Christmas to life for readers of all ages. Poignant and lyrical, these stunning tales will be cherished for countless holiday seasons to come.