Bad on Paper podcast host Becca Freeman is set to release her debut novel – The Christmas Orphans Club – on 26th September, a charming and whimsical book.
The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman is the perfect read as the winter months approach – a delight both to read for Christmas in July or in December. Having made a name for herself as host of the Bad on Paper podcast, Freeman’s first publishing venture is everything we’ve come to expect from her, filled with wit and charm, but with real heart at the centre of the story.
The novel tells the story of Hannah and Finn – two best friends who bond over the absence of a family over the Christmas period. Over the course of their friendship, they develop their annual Christmas tradition, bringing along fellow Christmas orphans Priya and Theo along the way. The story is built around the fact that Finn’s last Christmas with the foursome is approaching, with his move from New York pending. Hannah panics about making this last Christmas perfect, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the anxieties the foursome have underneath the surface. As the story develops lingering feelings bubble to the surface. Although Freeman bemoaned the difficulties of a non-linear narrative on the podcast, crafting the story in this way creates a rich tapestry and picture of the friend’s lives and the depths of their friendship. The novel, thick with New York and Swiftie references, is as charming and delightful as they come, building up the romance of friendship as much as the romantic relationships in the novel.
If this is what Freeman is capable of, we will await her next novel with baited breath.
