05 Jul CHRISTMAS IN JULY

I do not recall this ever happening before.  MARY’S SONG (Eerdmans) was to be released this coming October.  Due to an internet demand the book was officially published at the end of last month.

When I received the bound copy I went back to my notes finding I wrote the manuscript in 2007.  I barely remember writing it.  I did know if the book was ever to be published it would be dedicated:

To my sister Donna Lee Venturi–

for the lifetime songs

we sang together.

When Stephen Alcorn received the manuscript he immediately went to work on the artwork, using his wife, Sabina, as the model for Mary.

When my brother-in-law, Tony Venturi, first read the book in galley form he commented how unique it was that the entire point-of-view was from the Virgin Mary:  The entire text is written in her voice.  I never realized I did that!  I never thought about it.

Yes, it is July but Christmas did arrive early with MARY’S SONG. The book ends:  “Awe. Wonder. Joy/Today–birth of him/my baby boy”

Yes — awe, wonder, joy!