Real Santa, by William Hazelgrove

George is having a bad day.  He gets fired, then, to make matters worse, he comes home to find that his 9-year-old daughter is having doubts about the existence of Santa Claus!  He still harbors bad memories of his own father's revelation about Santa, and is determined that his daughter will believe, even in only for one more Christmas.  In Real Santa, William Hazelgrove tells George's story.

George comes up with a fantastic plan, which gets more and more elaborate--and expensive--as time goes on.  Along the way, he angers his daughter's teacher, alienates his neighbor, risks ending his marriage, nearly bankrupts his family, but might just pull off being Santa for his daughter.  Not content simply to dress up in a Santa suit and make an appearance in his living room, he is determined to land a sleigh on the roof of his house, complete with nine reindeer, go down the chimney, put presents under the tree, then climb back up the chimney and fly away.

Hazelgrove has middle-aged, suburban male angst down pat.  As he did in Rocket Man, Hazelgrove captures the struggles of the guy who wants to be a great dad and husband, wants to excel in his career, wants to make a mark on the world, but who faces setback after setback.  Regardless of the consequences, George determinedly pursues his dream of proving to his daughter that Santa is real, and learns quite a bit about himself, and the real Santa, along the way.

Real Santa is a bit madcap.  George goes over-the-top crazy in pursuit of his project.  It was a bit unbelievable that a guy who just lost his job would spend tens of thousands of dollars to play real Santa.  Regardless, Hazelgrove makes it work.  The story is thoroughly entertaining, and has a nice family message.  (I should add, though, that the language is not family-friendly.)  Hazelgrove and George make many references to classic Christmas movies, and part of the story is a movie-within-a-movie, so it's no surprise that Hazelgrove has sold the movie rights to Real Santa.  This is a fun story, and will certainly be a Christmas favorite.  And the Kindle version is only 99 cents!  Check it out!


Thanks to Mr. Hazelgrove for the complimentary electronic review copy!