I am still reading the third story in the CHRISTMAS BOX TRILOGY ~ the last one is called THE LETTER, and I am almost finished it. It is my least favorite of the three and I feel the author made a huge error in the book: about half-way through, the main male character (husband, David Parkin) gets involved in a silly, teenish kind of chase relationship (yes;no;yes;no;yes;no) with a 20 year old girl (he is in his 40's at this time), which ruined the story for me.
He does walk away from her eventually, but the whole thing was so distracting and contradictory to the earlier descriptions of his character and behavior (esp by his wife & the author) that it didn't fit right in this story, so it was annoying as heck; and I couldn't wait to get past it.
BUT, there was a tiny gem of story weaved throughout about a sweet & kind elderly, black American (and yes, it matters to this story) soldier and his relationship to a white officer's daughter. This story should have been expounded upon much more as it was so touching and moving; and soul-stirring really. It would have made a grand book on its own.
I am almost finished it, but wonder where the story is going at this point. The author said it was a special love story; but not the one he meant. It was a very disappointing one, as I found myself feeling very sorry for the main female character who loved her husband much more than he deserved. It seemed that she felt gracious to him for saving her from a bad situation, rather than it being an equalitarian and pure kind of love like the soldier and his wife had ... they had the special love story (and for this reason, I am glad I read it)!!!
You see, he was black soldier in a time (during the depression and onwards) when they were treated very badly in the US. She was a white daughter of a high-ranking officer in the army, who was born with a disfiguring pigment scar over 2/3 rds of her face. Although, she was very pretty, that scar prevented her from being marriage material -- no white fellas could see her true beauty beneath that scar, except for one young, handsome black soldier. They met and secretly fell in love; then got married in a private ceremony and had a child, but they had to keep their relationship secret and distant for the safety of them all. Their story isn't shared in full, until after the man is dying ... when he finally meets his daughter for the first time.
This story touched me on many levels; I kind of thought about how this black man was able to see past her physical flaw and love her because he already knew what it was like to be persecuted because of the color of his skin (the same physical flaw -- for what he looked like).
I perceived another interesting similarity; how it feels to be overweight and feel that one is not accepted or loved because some people cannot see a person's true beauty ... that is, the beauty of their real self -- the beauty of their soul!
Sometimes, it seems that only GOD is able to do that ...
THAT'S FUNNY! Very similar to your LIVER DIET! You know, when I first read your post, I thought it said, "The Apollo Diet" and then I read about the can of dog food and had a good laugh. In my book, it is on page 26 -- so I had to search a bit ... 
