I admit I’ve veered somewhat off course for this year’s December theme of “It’s a Party!” with this one; I usually read something festive/Christmassy for the final TBR Challenge of the year, and that’s what I had in my mind when I chose to read Avery Cockburn’s A Christmas Harbor. I suppose I could make the argument that both the characters are – individually – having a bit of a pity party when we meet them, so maybe the book fits the prompt if you squint!

Author Paul McCafferty has come to Annapolis because he needs to find an apartment prior to taking up his new job as a visiting professor at St. John’s College, and he’s deliberately come during the holiday to avoid the memories of the previous Christmas he knows will keep plaguing him if he spends it at home with family. He’s trudging around town in the rain, trying to find a dive bar where he can get quietly drunk before heading back to his hotel, but things are pretty quiet. He’s almost given up when he sees a tavern with a sign announcing “Live Music” hanging in the window. As he pulls open the door, he’s met by soft lighting and the bluesy sound of a piano… yep. Here will do very well for the state of drunkeness he’s aiming to achieve. He takes a seat at the bar, perfectly placed for people-watching, and scans the room, taking in the guy playing the piano and the old man sitting to one side, the couple who are clearly together, but not talking, and the guy with close-cropped sandy hair sitting alone at the other corner and absently rolling a glass tumbler between his hands. When the pianist launches into the opening notes of Wham’s Last Christmas, the guy lets out a deep groan – and Paul can’t help wondering if the song reminds this man of a lost love, too, his writer’s brain starting to spin a story. Or, he reasons, he could just go over and talk to him to make sure he’s alright – after all, it’s Christmas Eve; what better time for a good deed?

Naval instructor David Jeffries is used to spending Christmas on his own. Year after year after year of hiding his sexuality for the sake of personal ambition, of pushing away anything and anyone that threatened his career, means that hiding his true self has become a habit that’s hard to break. And even though it’s now possible to be an out, gay man in the Navy, those habits have died hard and the relationships he’s attempted since just haven’t worked out. He’s not quite sure what to make of it when the guy who just arrived approaches him and asks if he’s okay – and is just a bit wary when he strikes up a little low-key flirtation. But then David relaxes into it and decides to let himself have this, to enjoy some good company and conversation, and very soon, he and Paul are getting on like a house on fire. A few hours spent talking about his life and career as a submariner, about Paul’s books and literature in general, swapping college and classroom war stories, and then leading the Christmas Eve Cheer-the-Fuck-Up singalong, bring about a genuine closeness, and what had begun as the second-worst Christmas Eve of Paul’s life has been tranformed into one of the best.

A Christmas Harbor is a quiet, character-driven story that is just Christmassy enough and which packs quite an emotional punch as we follow these two lonely and thoughtful men through a single evening (and morning after). The author’s use of pathetic fallacy; how the drab, wintry streets and dreary weather echo the melancholy tone of Paul’s thoughts at the beginning is skilfully done, and I liked how that continues as the relationship develops and the world becomes both literally and figuratively brighter. The dialogue is terrific – funny and insightful – the characters have depth and complexity and the story is full of wonderful conversations and warm, tender moments. I liked that David and Paul are two mature, kind men with real problems and real lives and struggles, and the sense of bone-deep connection the author has created between them makes it completely credible that they could realise they’ve finally found their forever person in such a relatively short space of time. They’re perfect for each other, intellectually and emotionally, and by the time I finished reading, there was no doubt whatsover in my mind that they would make it long term.

A Christmas Harbor is a short but immensely satisfying story and an absolutely lovely romance. My only complaint is that it’s not longer.

With a nod to Billy Joel’s Piano Man:

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he’s talkin’ with Davy, who’s still in the navy
And probably will be for life…