For true fans of Anne Perry who will read anything she writes perhaps this will complete their collection.

A very short read if you don't want to start a long book. Anne does not disappoint though. She can fit a lot of story into a small book. I love reading Christmas books right now and if you are looking for something quick to read before the holidays -- this is your kind of book.

Perry, Anne
A CHRISTMAS REVELATION
Adventure, danger, mystery, friendship, celebration . . . what a treat! Like Christmas itself, Anne Perry’s A CHRISTMAS REVELATION has something wonderful for everyone. Worm reminds me of Oliver Twist, willing to believe the best of others, despite the many hard knocks that could have made him cynical. He appreciates the good things, tries to help, and seems to bring out the best in friends and allies. This is a lovely, well-written, perfect Christmas tale. Thanks, NetGalley, for introducing me to a wonderful author, new to me but now a favorite.

This is a historical fiction story; approx. 1876 - 1878 in England, outside of London. I liked the setting and the main character, young Worm, an orphan currently residing at a "home" for those less fortunate (mostly ladies of the evening) run by an aristocratic woman. The main characters are well written and seem true to the era this is taking place in. The setting is done well, so you get a feel for the time/space. It's an interesting story about young Worm (he's about 9) and this woman he sees at the market who seems to be taken against her will by two men. Worm's imagination runs wild about what might be happening. He involves an adult in his troubles, Squeaky, the accounts manager for the home where Worm stays. Squeaky wasn't always a reputable man. Squeaky tries to dissuade Worm from attempting to do anything about the woman they really know nothing about; by spinning stories about Christmas and what they should do, at the home, to celebrate it. So this story is mostly about this mysterious woman and a little bit about Christmas. All-in-all a very enjoyable story.

Nine-year old Worm works and lives at Hester Monk’s clinic in Portpool Lane, thanks to the generosity of kindly volunteer Miss Claudine Burroughs and grumpy old bookkeeper Squeaky Robinson. After witnessing the abduction of a young woman by a couple of thugs, Worm turns to Squeaky for help. Squeaky really does not want to get involved, but he cannot disappoint young Worm—or let him go off to help on his own. The young woman has been taken because of what she knows. In pursuit, Squeaky and Worm go in and out of the underbelly of the city to figure out how or whether they can help. Luckily for Worm, Squeaky knows the ins and outs of this life because he once ran a brothel in the city. Meanwhile, Squeaky is working on setting up the first and enjoyable holiday Worm has ever known. As they delve further and further into this mysterious incident, both Squeaky and Worm become more committed to helping the young woman despite the dangers. At the same time, Squeaky and Worm develop a solid bond, making Squeaky’ s wish to get Worm the Christmas he has never had or even dreamed of equally as important.

This is a well written, short, but not too short, story about Christmas and one young boy’s wish to help a young woman. The setting is very much London during the Victorian era. The characters are also right out of that era. I found the story an interesting read and one that gave me some insight about that era. I also enjoyed the way the pair, Worm and Squeaky, bonded as the tale progressed. The author has managed to work the Christmas holiday into this short mysterious kidnapping story, where the abducted woman actually knew more and was far more involved than originally believed. This is a bit of a different Christmas story, but one I am sure any reader will enjoy. I have read the author’s other holiday stories, and this one sits right up there with them. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

A Christmas Revelation is the 16th in Anne Perry's series of Christmas mystery novellas. The book is loosely connected to her Victorian historical mystery series, but you do not need to have read them to understand the story. Some of the characters and locations will be familiar to you if you have, though.

This is a heartwarming holiday story surrounded by an intriguing mystery. The young boy, Worm, at the center of the tale is such a sweet character. He's determined to help a young woman that he believes to be in trouble, even after she insists that she is fine.  

I  enjoyed reading about the old-fashioned Christmas traditions, and the details in this story really brought the Victorian age to life. It's a quick read and is sure to leave you with a smile on your face.

The Meaning of Christmas

How do you explain Christmas to an urchin who's spent most of his first nine years on the mean streets near the mid-19th century mudflats and docks of London? And with that background how is it he is unaware the woman he feels compelled to rescue is probably "no better than she ought to be"? This story of rescue and redemption features movie-worthy chase scenes and a surprisingly complex mystery.

A Holiday Story-
About a sweet, kind 9 yr old who has no family, never experienced a real Christmas and was taught right from wrong by hos adopted family. Worm idenified beautiful mystery woman in distressed and he wanted to help her . A friend joined Worm to find the mystery woman, and provide assistance if necessary.

It's been years since I've read Anne Perry and honestly when I did read her I wasn't really a fan. This one was a pleasant surprise. The story of former brothel owner turned charity hospital accountant Squeaky and street urchin Worm was surprisingly sweet - especially considering that the plot of the book involved stolen gold, suspected murder, and lots of time spent running around less than desirable areas. With all that it's hard to believe that this book is at all Christmas-y and yet it is. Between the developing relationship between Squeaky and Worm to all the talk of the Christmas celebration at the hospital it had just the right Christmasy feel without taking the edge off the mystery.

I had a great deal of difficulty getting into this one. I'd read a few chapters and go off and read another book then come back... never really got off the ground for me. I'm finally giving up after about a month, at about 2/3 of the way through. Found the story to be dark and dreary, not very interesting,and very slow. Others may enjoy it, but not for me.

A Christmas Revelation is the latest installment of Anne Perry’s Christmas Stories series, which takes characters from some of Perry’s other popular series and inserts them into holiday-themed stories of their own. This was my first time reading one of these holiday stories and I’m pleased to say that overall, even though they’re supposed to be part of a series, A Christmas Revelation still works quite well as a standalone.

The story follows a nine-year old boy nicknamed Worm, who used to live on his own as a street urchin until he got himself a job at Hester Monk’s clinic. That job also brought him a makeshift family in the form of the always kind Miss Claudine and especially in the cynical and curmudgeonly old bookkeeper, Squeaky. Squeaky is a man who prefers to mind his own business at all costs, but when Worm comes to him, completely distraught because he thinks he has witnessed a woman being abducted, Squeaky promises Worm, against his better judgment, that he’ll help him find and rescue the woman, if she really is, in fact, in distress. Squeaky also realizes while he and Worm are playing detective and trying to locate the missing woman, that Worm has never had a real Christmas before so he makes it his mission to deliver a real family Christmas for Worm and to explain to him the true meaning of Christmas.

What I enjoyed most about this story was that it was a nice balance between the mystery of what happened to the woman Worm saw and the Christmas aspect that Squeaky introduces. The story also boasts what felt like a truly authentic Victorian London setting. It felt so Dickensian that I half expected Worm and Squeaky to rush around a corner and run smack dab into Ebenezer Scrooge himself. I also especially liked the idea that the holidays make us want to be our best selves, as is witnessed by Squeaky’s efforts to not disappoint Worm and to bring Christmas to him for the first time. I think the story would have worked even better for me if I had known a little more of the background of these two characters, but overall it was still a great holiday read. 3.5 STARS

This book is the perfect feel good holiday read. You know how the story is going to end up, but enjoy the ride! I enjoy these heartfelt books during the holidays and this one was extremely well written.

This book was excellent just like her other Christmas books. The character Worm wormed his way into your heart along with the rest of your characters. The book held your attention all the way to the end and left you wanting more. It showed you the real meaning of the Christmas season.

I admit that I'm usually much more impressed by Anne Perry's Victorian mysteries, but authors can't always be brilliant. I did hope for better when I requested A Christmas Revelation from Net Galley.


I read A Christmas Garland by Anne Perry primarily because I was intrigued by it being located in India, and I did enjoy it. A Christmas Revelation was scheduled for the December meeting of my F2F mystery group. So I thought I'd try that one too.


What stood out about this Christmas mystery is that it dealt with ordinary working class people. Perry has a tendency to focus on the perspectives of aristocrats and officialdom. I applaud her for thinking that there was a story worth telling in the lives of an accountant for a clinic catering to street prostitutes called Squeaky and a street urchin named Worm that he'd adopted. I'd be more interested in the women who were treated at the clinic. They actually are human beings. There could be an inspiring Christmas story dealing with them.


One thing that stuck in my craw was those character names. It seemed to me that people who allow others to call them Squeaky and Worm should have more self-respect. The name Squeaky reminds me of an accusation hurled at cowards. "What are you, a man or a mouse?" Squeaky turned out to be rather heroic. It made me think that he shouldn't put up with being called Squeaky.


The mystery itself seemed rather routine to me. It was okay. I'd give it three stars.

First of this is a Christmas novella based on Anne Perry's characters from William Monk's series. Now, I've never read any of Anne Perry's books. I decided to go ahead and give this novella a shot. I'm glad I did!



The setting takes place in an English town by Thames River during pre-Victorian era. Reminded me much of Charles Dickens novels. The story focuses on Worm, the former river rat and Squeaky, mentor (I don't know exactly what his role is. I haven't read the series yet) few days before Christmas. Previously orphaned boy had witnessed an abduction of a young woman in abroad daylight in the streets. He wants to help but realizes he can't do it alone. So he runs home to enlist the help of Squeaky. Together, they begin the dangerous journey of finding this kidnapped woman.

Will they be able to save the woman and solve the mystery just in time for Christmas?

I love how Anne described the buildings, the cobblestones street, horses, carriages, clothing, Christmas style during that era. Her writing is impeccable and beautiful.

I'm going to give it a high 3 stars due to fact I'm kind of confused about the characters and how they became a family and the story was slow going with some repetive words and phrases. However, I will be reading her other books to find out more about the characters. I may change the star rating later.



I received this delightful ARC from Random House Publishing Group/Ballatine Ballatine Books. Thank you!

A cozy novel,set in England. With an orphan named Worm and his self-appointed guardian Squeaky find themselves in the middle of a dangerous situation.. Worm sees a beautiful woman and senses she is in need of help. Fear she is being held against her will, he asked Squeaky to help her. It's a sweet novel. Perfect for cozy novel readers during the Christmas holiday.

This pre-Christmas offering from Anne Perry is a standalone story. I am on the fence about it, though. Her prose is great; in fact I wrote down her description of the stale air in a warehouse because it was so vivid. Her characters were more flawed than I like in a Christmas story, however. I like uplifting stories for this time of year and by the end of it I wasn't sure if it filled that requirement. Read it for the great descriptions and character studies and decide for yourself if the good guys won or not.

I wanted to like this book but I can't lie: it was a painful read for me. Worm and Squeaky were definitely my favorite part of the story and were the main reason why I did not give up, put down the book, and give up in utter defeat. The entire story is incredibly boring and though it is a short story, I took me over a week to finish it if that tells you anything. I felt like there were two different stories going on and the only thing tying them both together were Worm and Squeaky, even though their characters lacked development, which was heartbreaking.

I felt like the entire story was disjointed, lacked flow, and there was nothing to really bond the characters to the readers. It was a Christmas story and a crime story and they should've been separated and since this is considered a short story, for the price, it's just not worth it to me.

Combining the nostalgia of Victorian Era Christmas and the grit and grime of the author’s usual historical mystery world, readers of the authors’ regular mystery series are treated to a holiday mystery novella each year.

In A Christmas Revelation, sixteenth of the Christmas stories collection, Worm and Squeaky, minor characters from the William Monk series, get their time to shine.

Worm, a waif from the streets, has no understanding of Christmas, and little understanding about family. Against the odds, he still has a little child-like belief left in goodness. He spots a woman he sees as a pretty angel get dragged away off a street and he wants to help her. He pulls in old, cantankerous and barely reformed Squeaky Robinson to be his reluctant partner.

I felt sad, but also slightly amused as tough ex-crook and someone who grew up without family trying to explain Christmas to Worm as they go about decorating the Portpool Lane clinic and work to find the woman and discover what troubles her.

Worm watches and tries to learn from those around him. He might be a child, but he has an eye for truth and falsehood and those who are truly good from those who pretend. He enjoys Squeaky’s stories and appreciates that he’s willing to help Worm on his quest. Meanwhile, this holiday mission of Worm’s drudges up too many bad or empty memories for Squeaky and he reflects back on where his life has been and what he thinks about the reformed life he lives now. He knows he went wrong through most of his past, but now, he is able to use his shady connections to help Worm even though he fears, and rightly so, that Worm’s ‘lady’ is not as good as her smile and that her trouble is of her own making.

The tale combines long introspective moments set against the era’s Christmas time, steady tracking of clues, and an exciting grand finale. I enjoyed it, but those introspective moments got long at times. The ending did make up for a lot of that, though. I enjoyed getting to know Worm and Squeaky better, particularly Squeaky who has been a fixture in the William Monk series for quite some time.

In A Christmas Revelation was a fast-read and an engaging historical mystery that fans of the author and her series will appreciate while newcomers can get a heartwarming and thoughtful Christmas mystery on the dark streets of London.

This book reads as a very short "feel good" novel and can be easily finished in a few hours. There is not a strong emphasis on religion or a strong plot for a mystery. It was disappointing that there was not a lot of depth to the story or the characters. It read to me like an extended short story or something that could be developed for a school play. It was enjoyable, but if you expect to find great revelations, identify with characters, or lose yourself in a story, you probably won't find it in this book. I have never read this author before but would may try another of her books.
This book was provided by the publisher as a complimentary copy via Net Galley. The opinions expressed are my own.