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| Categories | Genre Fiction |
| Author | Kristin Hannah |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books; Standard Edition (October 6, 2020) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| Item Weight | 2.31 pounds |
| Dimensions |
5.19 x 0.58 x 7.95 inches |
I. Book introduction
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Kristin Hannah is beloved by readers around the world for her unique blend of powerful emotion and exquisite storytelling. In Comfort & Joy, she offers a modern-day fairy tale—the story of a woman who gets a miraculous chance at happiness.
Joy Candellaro once loved Christmas more than any other time of the year. Now, as the holiday approaches, she is at a crossroads in her life; recently divorced and alone, she can’t summon the old enthusiasm for celebrating. So without telling anyone, she buys a ticket and boards a plane bound for the beautiful Pacific Northwest. When an unexpected detour takes her deep into the woods of the Olympic rainforest, Joy makes a bold decision to leave her ordinary life behind—to just walk away—and thus begins an adventure unlike any she could have imagined.
In the small town of Rain Valley, six-year-old Bobby O’Shea is facing his first Christmas without a mother. Unable to handle the loss, Bobby has closed himself off from the world, talking only to his invisible best friend. His father Daniel is beside himself, desperate to help his son cope. Yet when the little boy meets Joy, these two unlikely souls form a deep and powerful bond. In helping Bobby and Daniel heal, Joy finds herself again.
But not everything is as it seems in quiet Rain Valley, and in an instant, Joy’s world is ripped apart, and her heart is broken. On a magical Christmas Eve, a night of impossible dreams and unexpected chances, Joy must find the courage to believe in a love—and a family—that can’t possibly exist, and go in search of what she wants . . . and the new life only she can find.
Editorial Reviews
- “Happy, hopeful and très romantique.”—Hartford Courant
- “[Kristin Hannah’s] best book yet.”—The Columbus Dispatch
- “Hannah will touch the deepest corner of your heart.”—Rendezvous
- “An engaging holiday tale.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- “A heartwarming holiday tale [that] resonates with poignancy and deep emotion.”—Romantic Times
About Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an American writer. Her most notable works include Winter Garden, The Nightingale, Firefly Lane, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. In 2024, St. Martin’s Publishing Group published her novel, The Women, which is set in America in the 1960s.
Kristin Hannah was born in California. After graduating with a degree in communication from the University of Washington, Hannah worked at an advertising agency in Seattle. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound law school and practiced law in Seattle before becoming a full-time writer. Hannah wrote her first novel with her mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, but the book was never published.
Hannah’s best-selling work, The Nightingale, has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide and has been published in 45 languages.
Hannah lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and their son.
II. Reviewer: Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
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1. DARLA reviews for Comfort & Joy
The wait list for this book at my library seems to be inversely related to the reviews here on Goodreads. Sure it is much shorter than your regular KH book and is not historical fiction, but that does not mean it is missing that KH magic. This is a fairy tale — actually a fable as noted on the cover. And it is a holiday title. Does it have that holiday magic? I definitely say it does. The first part goes on a bit long, but then you hit part two and “Bang.” Stuff starts really happening. For me it is not quite up to the storytelling we have seen from Richard Paul Evans, but is most certainly a book I would recommend for holiday reading, even consider it as a gift. A PG read (infidelity witnessed early on).
2. JANIE JOHNSON reviews for Comfort & Joy
I just love reading books for the holiday, some how it makes them more magical that way. This was my first Christmas read for December and I have to say that I really loved it. I really do enjoy Kristin Hannah’s writing a lot. The first book I read by her was Winter Garden. Also a very enjoyable read. I especially liked the characters in this book. They are very well written, they are both relatable and believable. I feel like I knew them all personally and I loved that.
There is such a great plot twist in this one, and it was one that I did not expect at all. Be prepared though and keep some tissues on hand because this one is a tear jerker. This is one of those books that you don’t want to end, and when it did, it felt like a part of my life was over. I just wanted to go back and read it all again.
“It’s a dangerous business…going out of your door. You step into the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” –J.R.R. Tolkien
3. KAREN reviews for Comfort & Joy
Who doesn’t love a little fable around Christmas time?
This one has librarian Joy broken from her divorce needing an escape at the holidays.
Her way is to take an impromptu plane ride to Hope which ends in a crash in a forest.
As she navigates her way out, we find her in a young boy’s life and his father.
During her stay at their place, she finds how much she is helping to connect their lives as the young boy works through the loss of his mother and his attempt to find closeness with his father.
But something isn’t quite right here.
If you pay close attention, you will probably get it.
It isn’t so much the mystery of what is happening with Joy or the boy, Bobby, or the father Daniel, or even Joy and her sister.
(And the story with her sister is a doozy.)
Still, I think we want magic to happen, and some how we find it through these pages.
A delightful quick read.
4. CARA reviews for Comfort & Joy
I have read many Kristin Hannah books before, but this was my first Christmas book by her. I instantly fell in love with this story and it was hard to put it down. No matter what time of the year it is a good Christmas book will definitely put you in the Christmas spirit. What stopped me from giving this book a 5, some parts were a bit put off, and or rushed.
Joy Candellaro is a high school librarian. Joy used to love Christmas more than any other time of the year. But now as the holiday approaches, Joy finds herself at loose ends. Joy is recently divorced from her husband Thom, and estranged from her sister Stacey which makes celebrating Christmas the more difficult. Without telling anyone Joy decides to board a plane and goes somewhere she can find a second chance at happiness. But as Joy and the other passengers are up in the air something terrible happens to the plane.
When Joy reaches her new destination she meets 8 year old Bobby and his widowed father Daniel. Bobby and Daniel are facing their first Christmas without their mom and wife. Bobby is making it more difficult for Daniel because he has imaginary friends and closes himself off from the real world. When Joy meets Bobby they form an instant bond, but Daniel doesn’t know what to make of Joy. When Joy shows up she’s a complete stranger, but she just wants to find happiness and leave her past behind in this new town.
My heart aches for Joy for all the pain and hurt she has endured, she seems like such a sweet person who wants nothing but happiness.
5. AYA ALMINIANA reviews for Comfort & Joy
When magic happens
A few days ago I opened my Kindle app intending to continue reading another book. I was puzzled when, for whatever reason, my library showed all the e-books I apparently bought years ago, but had forgotten. Kristin Hannah’s Comfort & Joy: A Fable was the very first book on the list.
And I am glad that, however it happened, a glitch in the app or whatnot, I met Joy, Daniel, and Bobby. Their story was beautifully written, and yes, Kristin Hannah has made me realize that magic can happen, if we believe.
6. LAURIE SCOTT reviews for Comfort & Joy
“Comfort & Joy” Love this book!
I loved this book. Review authors keep saying it’s not believable. I found it to be a wonderful read that I couldn’t put down. Forgiveness is hard for most of us. Maybe that’s why people found this book to be unbelievable, but I have known people who have suffered at the hands of family and still found it in themselves to forgive and move on. I haven’t even finished this book yet and still have a few more pages to go, but I know I’m going to love it as I have loved what I’ve already read. I loved the twist when she realized she had never left the plane crash and Bobby and Daniel were imagined, but I’m now at the place where she has found the white arrowhead in the pocket of her jeans she had on at the crash site and she is now boarding a plane to find answers. I have loved all of Kristen Hannah’s books, but I’ve loved this one just because it’s a lovely read that has made me cry, smile, surprised me, and given me hope that maybe all of us can learn about forgiveness through Joy.
7. EMILYCPA reviews for Comfort & Joy
Ridiculous sappy and heartwarming
I have a lot of criticisms of this book, but if I’m being honest, overall, I just loved it 🤷🏼♀️. The first chapter was rough.. I really was questioning my life choices. But it got better quickly. I did not see the twist coming. It reminded me of watching the sixth sense as a kid.. I was very impressed by that. Less impressed with the ending. It kind of abruptly wrapped up. But I still loved it. Couldn’t put it down. I found several typos so not very impressed with the editors
8. LINDA GEORGE reviews for Comfort & Joy
Comfort and Joy
Joy Candellaro is living in a world of hurt since finding her husband and sister in the most compromising situation. The separation and divorce are nothing compared to her sister’s plea for understanding as she tells her that she is pregnant and hands her a wedding invitation for her marriage to Joy’s ex-husband. That is the last straw for Joy and she flees to the airport and takes the first flight out of town, a charter headed to Hope, Washington. The plane crashes and Joy finds herself in Rain Valley where she meets Daniel and his son Bobby. As she becomes involved with their lives she finds hope and resolution with her past. Is it possible that the the magic of Christmas will give them the chance to become a family.
9. CHERI reviews for Comfort & Joy
’It’s a dangerous business . . . going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’
— J. R. R. Tolkien
A Christmas story filled with a decidedly different kind of charm that is about two sisters, and a now ex-husband, and a last minute decision that changes the course of the life of Joy Faith Candellaro.
’There they are, naked and sweating, and rolling, in my bed.
Like an idiot, I stand there, staring at them…Then I see her face, and a bad moment rounds the bend into horrific. It is my sister.’
She can’t bear to be in this place, this home that is filled now with so many unhappy memories. Their divorce was finalized months ago, and she’s trying to find a way to be happy, she even buys a Christmas tree, and makes plans to buy her own gift, something to lift her spirits. And then her sister shows up, with two bits of news, one via a wedding invitation and the second with the news that she and her now ex-husband are expecting a child. His child.
Joy drives away after hearing this news, just needing to get away from her sister, this town, and ends up at the airport where she sees where the next flight is bound for Hope, Canada, and buys a ticket – the last seat. She just wants to leave ’here’, and doesn’t really care about the destination.
There, she ends up at what is apparently the last place with a room available, owned by a father and his young son, but the son is the one to show her to her room, and the father isn’t even aware until later, and isn’t particularly happy to have to deal with more than he is already dealing with.
There’s a twist that follows, and a bond that forms with the young son, and more twists after that. Sprinkled with a bit of magical realism, this was a heartwarming, fairy tale-ish read.
10. SHARON reviews for Comfort & Joy
Joy Candellaro is a high school Librarian and use to love the Christmas season. That was until one day when she came home to find her husband in bed with her sister. Seeing as her marriage is falling apart Joy decides it’s time to take a holiday. So Joy heads for the airport and hops on a plane that is going to Hope. Joy thinks that having time away from her problems will be the best thing for her.
But tragedy strikes and the plane she is on ends up crashing. The plane crashes in the forest and although the crash site is horrific Joy and the other passengers all survive. Not knowing where she is and not feeling so good Joy start wandering off and eventually comes across a lodge. Living in the lodge is Daniel and his young son Bobby. She soon discovers that Bobby’s mother has passed away and that Bobby is very lost and sad without his mother. Quite quickly Joy and Bobby bond together as Joy feels for Bobby having lost his mother. At times Joy can see how upset Bobby is and at times be becomes depressed. Of course being that it is Christmas time makes it evens harder. Both Daniel and Bobby have enjoyed Joy’s company but the day comes when she must leave. Joy assures Bobby that she will return one day to visit them but Bobby is not convinced.
I really enjoyed this book and the twist towards the end had me saying to myself as I’m reading NO that can’t happen. So needless to say I desperately wanted to finish this book to find out how it would end. This is a nice light Christmas read which would be great to read over the holiday season.
III. Comfort & Joy Quotes by Kristin Hannah
The best book quotes from Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
“You can run away from your life and your past, but there’s no way to distance yourself from your own heart.”
“People who have lost themselves in the dark woods of ordinary life, who have been betrayed by loved ones and forgotten how to be led by dreams.”
“This is my resolution for the New Year. I will be honest with myself. I’ll keep my eyes open. I’ll see what’s there, not just what I want to see.”
“Regret, I know, is a powerful remainder; it can bring the strongest man to his knees.”
“Stacey: “I’m surprised you haven’t thrown me out.”
Comfort: “At your current weight, I’d need some sort of catapult.”“Those are exactly the kind of memories I try to avoid, but they’re like abestos: invisible and deadly. You need special gear to get rid of them.”
“You can run away from your life and your past, but there’s no way to distance yourself from your own heart.”
“How can I possibly fold all that longing into something as small as words?”
“It is amazing how quickly a bone can heal. If only the heart were as durable.”
“Some things need to be simply planted in the soft dirt of possibility.”
“We have always been the witnesses of each other’s lives. Isn’t that what family is? Even broken and betrayed and bleeding, we are connected.”
“And there it is: the core of everything. We’re sisters. We know each other intimately. Our pasts, our secrets, our fears. It is a precious gift that we tried to throw away but can’t really let go of.”
“You see things and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were And say, ‘Why not?’” —George Bernard Shaw”
“A wrecked marriage scares everyone. It’s like a rock tossed into a still blue pond; the ripples go on and on.”
“I am stronger than I use to be.” As I say the words, I realize the truth of them. I am stronger now. Strong enough to reach for this dream…and strong enough to handle disappointment.”
“I feel like Dorothy, back in Kansas, a black-and-white girl in a black-and-white world, with memories in color.”
“If I’m finally taking a trip into the unknown; there ought to be photographs to document this momentous event.”
“It hurts almost more than I can bear. Tears sting my eyes again; I wipe them away impatiently. I am so tired of crying, so tired of feeling like half a person, but I don’t know how to change things… (I have never felt so lost and alone.)”
“The love of books, of reading. There is nothing a librarian likes better than sharing her love of words with a child.”
“If ever I am inclined in the future to disbelieve in love, I will remember this moment.”
“If I’ve learned nothing else in the past few days, it’s that happiness must be fought for.”
“I’ve been wanting to start over, dreaming of it. And now, finally, I know where I want to be when I begin this new part of my life.”
“For all my dreams of complex new beginnings and convoluted endings, it can be as easy as this: a boy singing hymns again.”
“I know a thing or two about jealousy, how it can cut you to the bone and bring out the worst in you.”
“I am afraid t put it into words, this fragile impossible hope of mine, and more afraid not to.”
“I don’t want him to say his hope (wish) out loud. Some things need to be simply planted in the soft dirt of possibility.”
“If nothing else, this pause has given me that: a lens through which to view my previous life. It’s not forgiveness. Not even near that yet, but it is … acceptance, and that’s better than nothing.”
“They are obviously drowning in a sea of what they’ve lost. I know about those dark waters. Someone needs to throw them a life ring.”
“Here and now, I can do something that will make a difference in someone’s life, and perhaps that—the simple act of helping someone else—will help me in my own.”
“and it reminds me how fragile we all are, how easily we can wound one another, especially when love is involved.”
“Unlike me, Bobby will never know the nagging ache of an absent father; he will have the loss of his mother inside him, like a thin shadow on a bright day, standing close, but he won’t have that dragging sense that he was unloved, somehow, unworthy”
Excerpted from Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
Christmas parties are the star on the top of my “don’t” list this year. Other things to avoid this season: Ornaments. Trees. Mistletoe (definitely). Holiday movies about families. And memories.
Memories most of all. Last year, I celebrated Christmas morning in my own living room, with the two people I loved most in the world. My husband, Thomas, and my sister, Stacey.
A lot can change in twelve months.
Now, I am in my kitchen, carefully packing frosted Santa cookies into Tupperware containers, layering wax paper between each row. On a strip of masking tape, I write my name in bold black letters: Joy Candellaro. When I’m done, I dress for work in a pair of black jeans and a bright green sweater set. At the last moment, I add little wreath earrings. Perhaps if I look festive, people will stop asking me how I am doing. Balancing the pale pink containers in my arms, I lock up my house and make my way to the garage. As I round the hood of the car, I sidle past the row of file cabinets that line the back wall. My dreams are in those metal drawers, organized with the kind of care only a librarian can manage.
I have saved every scrap I’ve ever read about exotic locales and faraway places. When I read the words and see the pictures, I dream of having an adventure.
Of course, I’ve been dreaming of that for ten years now, and since I’ve been single again for almost three months, and separated from Thom for eight months before that, it’s safe to say I’m a dreamer not a doer. In fact, I haven’t added to my files or opened one of the cabinets since my divorce.
I ease past them now and get into my sensible maroon Volvo. Behind me, the garage door opens, and I back down the driveway.
It is still early in the morning on this last Friday before Christmas. The street lamps are on; light falls from them in cones of shimmering yellow through the predawn shadows. As my car rolls to a stop at the bottom of the driveway, the headlights illuminate my house. It looks . . . faded in this unnatural light, untended. The roses I love so much are leggy and bare. The planters are full of dead geraniums.
A memory flashes through me like summer thunder: there and gone.
I come home from work early . . . see my husband’s car is in the driveway. The roses are in full, riotous bloom.
I remember thinking I should cut some for an arrangement.
In the house, I toss my coat on the maple bench and go upstairs, calling out his name.
I am halfway up the stairs when I recognize the sounds.
In my mind and my memories, I kicked the door open. That’s what I told people later. The truth was, I barely had the strength to push it open.
There they are, naked and sweating and rolling, in my bed.
Like an idiot, I stand there, staring at them. I thought he’d feel my presence as keenly as I’d always felt his, that he’d look up, see me and–oh, I don’t know, have a heart attack or burst into tears and beg for my forgiveness or beg for forgiveness while having a heart attack.
Then I see her face, and a bad moment rounds the bend into horrific. It is my sister.
Now there’s a “For Sale” sign in front of my house. It’s been there for months, but who am I kidding? A wrecked marriage scares everyone. It’s like a rock tossed into a still blue pond; the ripples go on and on. No one wants to buy this house of bad luck.
I hit the gas too hard and back out into the street, putting the memories in my rearview mirror.
If only they would stay there. Instead, they’re like passengers, crowding in on me, taking up too much air.
No one knows what to say to me anymore, and I can hardly blame them. I don’t know what I want to hear, either. In the school library, where I work, I hear the whispers that grind to a halt at my entrance and notice how uncomfortable the ensuing silences can be.
I make it easy on my friends–or try to–by pretending that everything is okay. I’ve been doing that a lot this year. Smiling and pretending. What else can I do? People have grown tired of waiting for me to get over my divorce. I know I need to glide onto the track of my old life, but I can’t seem to manage it; neither do I have the courage to form a new one, though, in truth, it’s what I want. It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time.
At the corner, I turn left. The streets of Bakersfield are quiet on this early morning. By the time I reach the high school, it is just past seven o’clock. I pull into my parking space, gather my cookies, and go inside.
At the main desk, the school secretary, Bertha Collins, smiles up at me. “Hey, Joy.”
“Hey, Bertie. I brought some cookies for tonight’s faculty party.”
Her look turns worried. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Not this year, Bertie. I don’t feel too festive.”
She eyes me knowingly. As a twice-divorced woman, she thinks she understands, but she can’t, not really. Bertie has three kids and two parents and four sisters. My own math doesn’t add up that way. “Take care of yourself, Joy. The first Christmas after a divorce can be . . .”
“Yeah. I know.” Forcing a smile, I start moving. In the past year, this technique has worked well for me. Keep moving. I walk down the hallway, turn left at the empty cafeteria and head for my space. The library.
My assistant, Rayla Goudge, is already at work. She is a robust, gray-haired woman who dresses like a gypsy and tries to write all her notes in haiku. Like me, she is a graduate of U.C. Davis with a teaching certificate. We have worked side by side for almost five years and both enjoyed every minute. I know that in May, when she finishes her master’s degree in library science, I will lose her to another school. It’s one more change I try not to think about.
“Morning, Joy,” she says, looking up from the pile of paperwork in front of her.
“Hey, Ray. How’s Paul’s cold?”
“Better, thanks.”
I store my purse behind the counter and begin my day. First up are the computers. I go from one to the next, turning them on for the students, then I replace yesterday’s newspapers with todays. For the next six hours, Rayla and I work side by side–checking the catalog system, generating overdue notices, processing new books, and re-shelving. When we’re lucky, a student comes in for help, but in this Internet age, they are more and more able to do their school research at home. Today, of course, on this last school day before the winter break, the library is as quiet as a tomb.
That is another thing I try not to think about: the break. What will I do in the two and one-half weeks I have off?
In past years, I have looked forward to this vacation. It’s part of the reason I became a school librarian. Fifteen years ago, when I was in college, I imagined traveling to exotic locales in my weeks off.
“Joy, are you okay?”
I am so lost in memories of Before that it takes me a second to realize that Rayla is speaking to me. I’m standing in the middle of the library, holding a worn, damaged copy of Madame Bovary.
The bell rings: The walls seem to vibrate with the sound of doors opening, kids laughing, feet moving down the hall.
The winter break has begun.
“Do you need a ride to the party?” Rayla asks, coming up to me.
“The party?” I say, as if I’m actually thinking about it. “No, thanks.”
“You’re not coming, are you?”
Rayla has always been able to do that: pierce my defenses with a look. “No.”
“But . . .”
“Not this year, Ray.”
Rayla sighs. “So, what will you do tonight?”
We both know that the first night of our vacation is special. Last year, on this Friday evening, Stacey and I met up for dinner and went to the mall, where I agonized over the perfect gift for Thom.
It turned out to be my sister.
Those are exactly the kind of memories I try to avoid, but they’re like asbestos: invisible and deadly. You need special gear to get rid of them.
Rayla touches my arm. “Have you put up a tree yet?”
I shake my head.
“I could help you decorate one.”
“No, thanks. I need to do it myself.”
“And will you?”
I look down into her kind gray eyes and find it surprisingly easy to smile. “I will.”
She loops an arm through mine. Together, we walk through the quiet library and emerge into the crowded, busy hallways of the high school. All around us kids are laughing and talking and high-fiving one another.
In the parking lot, Rayla walks me to my car. There, she stops and looks up at me. “I hate to leave you alone for the holidays. Maybe Paul and I should cancel our trip to Minnesota.”
“Don’t you dare. Enjoy your family. I’ll be fine.”
“You and Stacey . . .”
“Don’t,” I say sharply, and then whisper: “Please.”
“She and Thom will break up, you’ll see. She’ll come to her senses.”
I have lost count of the times Rayla has said this to me, and of the times I’ve said it to myself.
“Why don’t you go to one of those dream places of yours–like Machu Picchu or London?”
“Maybe I will,” I say. It’s what I always say. We both know the truth: I’m scared to go alone.
Rayla pats my hand and kisses my cheek. “Well. I’ll see you in January, Joy.”
“Merry Christmas, Rayla.”
“And to you….
….
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