Book Review: The Legend of the Christmas Ship by Carl Behrend
Reviewed by Alexis Olson

Carl Behrend has grown up on the Great Lakes listening to all the old tales about shipwrecks, great captains who’s careers were on the Great Lakes, and ghost stories. Carl has portrayed his love for the Great Lakes in music and books, the latest one being the novel The Legend of The Christmas Ship. Carl offers a portrait of what The Christmas Tree Ship went through back at the beginning of the 19th century.

The Legend of the Christmas Ship is a story as big as the Great Lakes crashing ashore. This book is crafted from the legends, love and true events surrounding the famous Christmas Tree Ship. Venture back into 1911 Chicago, Illinois. The book starts in Chicago where everyone is busy readying itself for the Christmas holidays. As you read along you meet several bold and inspiring people along the path. Get to know the larger than life characters including Great Lakes pirates, Dan Seavey, blustery soul-saver Captain Bundy and his Gospel Ship, and studious Captain Schuenemann skipper of the vessel that each Christmas season hauled thousands of holiday trees to Chicago from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Witness a tender love affair between two star-cross lovers whose fates intertwine forever. Smell the evergreen boughs, hear the enduring tale of a family’s struggle to keep its seasonal business afloat. See how this endeavor would become a holiday tradition for countless numbers of Chicago area residences. Come back in time when electric lights and wireless communications were something new, the Titanic had yet to sail and automobiles were something to marvel at. Carl Behrend does a wonderful job of bringing to life the story of The Christmas Ship and all the lives it touched.

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