Ollie's Gift: Inspired by a True Story

By Maria Roncari

Book Overview

When, during a visit to the Jim Crow-era Deep South, a young girl discovers that the privilege she has always known doesn't extend to others, can an unexpected gift from an ill and blind older woman mend the child's shattered view of her once-rose-colored world?

Christmas Eve, December 1958 ...The young girl gazes out her window and smiles at the perfect light snowfall. The holidays were filled with lively Italian family gatherings overflowing with food, fun, laughter, and love. Every present on her wish list would be waiting under the tree on Christmas morning; they always were, and Marie felt like one of the luckiest kids alive.It never occurred to her that maybe all kids were not as lucky.However, two days after that storybook holiday, the child's innocent view of the world is turned upside down during a visit to her missionary cousin in Alabama.The heart of Dixie reveals a starkly different reality than her New England white Christmas, thrusting Marie into a world of racism, poverty, and hatred she never knew existed. At the precipice of her heartbreak and confusion, the child meets an ill and blind older woman named Miss Ollie. ... she had the same beautiful face. Like how I thought an angel might look.

Despite their brief time together, the two form a deep, inexplicable bond of love. But is it a love powerful enough to bring forth a gift that will mend the child's shattered view of her once-rose-colored world?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FJQDD5YL
• ISBN13: 9798822976535
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"