The Christmas Stranger

By Richard Paul Evans

Book Overview

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Christmas classic The Christmas Box and the #1 Netflix movie The Noel Diary comes a powerful and thought-provoking holiday story about love, loss, and the mysterious workings of heaven.

Sometimes the universe sends us exactly who we need...

Three years after losing his family in a Christmas Eve accident, grief-stricken Paul Wanlass hasn't just given up on Christmas, he's given up on life. He can't imagine anything to keep him here--not his work as a computer repairman, not the residents in his Salt Lake City neighborhood, and certainly not the idea of connecting with someone new. When a stranger knocks on his door, claiming to be picking up a laptop, Paul allows him in--but discovers the man has a very different mission in mind.

Paul wakes the next morning unsure if his encounter with the stranger really happened or was just a dream-but when the stranger shows up again, Paul challenges him to give him just one reason to live. The stranger agrees to the challenge but warns Paul not to expect a path he would have guessed or chosen.

As the stranger promised, Paul's life takes a wild and fateful turn. A robbery connects him with a woman who has also lost the love of her life, and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Paul rescues a young boy from bullying, only to find the boy needs a different kind of rescue. The twists leave Paul wondering what these people have in common, and why they were brought together. Who--or what--really is this Christmas stranger, and how will Paul find meaning once again?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1668014904
• ISBN13: 9781668014905
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 7.3"