Through a Novel, Author Oscar Hijuelo (RIP) Gave Us a Christmas Window to His Beliefs

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Samuel Freedman

PUBLISHING---Nearly 20 years ago, when he was three books into an acclaimed literary career, Oscar Hijuelos delivered the manuscript of his new novel to his editor. It was a Christmas tale filled with the joy Mr. Hijuelos had always taken in with the trappings of yuletide, from manger scenes to oratorios to evergreens strung with lights. From one who had already won the Pulitzer Prize..., it felt lacking. At least it did to Mr. Hijuelos’s editor at HarperCollins... He rejected the book. Mr. Hijuelos headed into his home office the next morning and started to work. Ultimately, however, he produced what is surely one of the most fully achieved novels about religion, “Mr. Ives’ Christmas.” It is, in distillate, the Book of Job transposed to Morningside Heights in the late 20th century. Mr. Hijuelos died in October at the age of 62. [link]