Dover is Decorated for the Holidays!

DOVER—
Dover’s Holiday Decorations received a boost from the generosity of local organizations and businesses who worked with the City of Dover to bolster the decorations.
Led by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce, the Holiday Lighting effort focused on decorating key areas of the downtown. Many organizations and businesses contributed to the effort. All the new lights, with the exception of the Rotary Holiday Tree, will be on in time for the Holiday Parade on Sunday the 29th.
The Rotary Club of Dover provided 4,500 LED lights to re-string the Living Holiday Tree in Rotary Garden. The City of Dover will celebrate the tree lighting on December 4th at 6:30 p.m. The lights were installed by volunteers from Urban Tree Services.
Waldron Courtyard received 700 feet of rope lighting compliments of Harvey’s Bakery and Coffee Shop, Jewelry Creations and Nicoles Hallmark. The trees on the Joe Parks Riverwalk were lit from a contribution from Kareltiz and Kennedy. Franklin Plaza was illuminated by Summit Land Development.
The Fountain on Central Avenue is to be decorated by volunteers of the Chamber of Commerce and Main Street with support from Century 21 Central Falls Real Estate.
“During difficult times, we realized that we should be looking inward to see how we could all make a contribution to our community. The reality is, we need to partner with each other and the City, rather than look to City Hall for everything. We are appreciative of our partners and look forward to expanding this effort for next year,” said Chamber Executive Director Kirt Schuman.
Photo caption: Right: Crews from Urban Tree Service install 4,500 LED lights on the Tree in Rotary Gardens. The lights were funded through a contribution from the Dover Rotary Club. (Courtesy photo)

A Novella that Promises to Please

By Chip Schrader
Book Review Editor
In The Christmas Promise, English author Anne Perry continues her tradition by publishing her seventh holiday mystery in a compact book that is sure to promise her fans a Christmas treat. The tale is set in a time of mules, horse drawn carriages, homemade Christmas toys, and homey ornamentations along the slums of London. The hardcover edition itself seems to be an homage to the original copy of A Christmas Carol with its pocket size, and pastoral painting on the cover.
The story begins with a poor thirteen year old named Gracie who encounters a crying eight-year old named Minnie Maude whose family’s donkey is missing. As Gracie talks with Minnie Maude, she finds that more than the donkey is Missing. “Uncle Alf” was en route with this creature, and neither made it home.
As Minnie Maude fears that without this mule, her family would starve, any of the grownups they encounter also overlook the fact that Alf is missing, too. Gracie, in spite of Alf’s reputation as being less useful than the mule, insists on finding this man. Her promise to Minnie Maude is to have the donkey back by Christmas so that the holiday could be saved.
Together Gracie and Minnie Maude interview grownups who had seen Alf on that last day, Gracie stubbornly insists something has happened. Quickly, the reader begins to wonder if anything the grownups say is actually truthful, as these children wander through the streets of nineteenth century London finding facts.
The “wiseman” Mr. Balthazar tells the girls he will look into the case, but this is not enough of a promise to keep them home and out of trouble. The intelligence and defiance of Gracie and Minnie Maude is charming, and their inquisitiveness nicely propels the narrative of this tale. But just as they get wise to some of the false leads, the girls set out to retrace Alf’s steps. Gracie must disobey orders and set out by herself on a mission she now knows could be much more perilous than she initially anticipated, but she has no choice at this point.
While the descriptions and Christmas setting evokes the style and spirit of Dickens, the reader might even draw similarities with the poverty described in Frank McCourt’s Limerick from Angela’s Ashes. The story itself has a solid arc that never leads the reader astray with a fresh economy of word use.
While it does take a few chapters to get used to the dialect in which the characters speak, the language creates a great deal of the mystery’s ambiance, and paints a deeper image of the time period. The prose is well laid out, and the descriptions would be well accompanied by a warm fire in the hearth. The ease of reading makes this a nice book to savor during an otherwise busy time of year. A first class holiday read.
Photo caption: Cover of The Christmas Promise by Anne Perry. (Courtesy photo)