The 13th Gift

A Woman’s Day Book Club Pick

“The book’s simple prose and profound message will fill even the Grinch-iest hearts with Christmas spirit while affirming the age-old adage, it really is the thought that counts.”—
USA Today

“A funny, knockout-moving new memoir . . . Read it, share it, pay it forward.”—The Good Life

“[A] touching true story.”—Women’s Day

“A feel-good story guaranteed to move you.”—Good Housekeeping

“Inspiring readers throughout the country and around the world this holiday season.”—The Dayton Daily News

“The 13th Gift is the kind of Christmas book whose message is much bigger than the holiday. This memoir is written from the heart and for the heart.”—Jason Wright, New York Times bestselling author of Christmas Jars

“I loved The 13th Gift—a truly heartfelt and intelligent book. Joanne Smith deftly reconciles the difficult terrain that ranges between the Christmas we all want and the tragedies of life that sooner or later beset us all. Highly recommend it to all, but particularly to those that are dealing with recent losses and don’t know how or if they will ever find their way back.”—Greg Kincaid, author of the bestselling Christmas with Tucker and A Christmas Home

“The beautiful story told in The 13th Gift reinforces how the most precious gifts at Christmas are when people give unconditional love and support and it proves how compassion and a kind heart can change lives. Acts of kindness can create a legacy that lives on from generation to generation.”—Laura Schroff, New York Times bestselling author, An Invisible Thread

“If there ever was a roller-coasterish page-turner of a Christmas book, this would be it. As a veteran devourer of Christmas stories short and long, fictional and true, I mistakenly assumed I’d encountered every conceivable plot variant in the genre. Turns out I was dead-wrong. Joanne Hurst Smith’s wondrous story hit me from so many directions, playing on the strings of so many emotions, that it left me limp at the end Quite simply, it is a masterpiece.”—Joe L. Wheeler, Ph.D., author of the bestselling Christmas in My Heart® series

“The 13th Gift has a touch of magic in it. It’s a lovely story that proves we can recover from any loss, strengthened by the blessings of others. It’s a classic for the Christmas season—and all seasons.”—Glenn Plaskin, author of Katie Up And Down The Hall: The True Story Of How One Dog Turned Five Neighbors Into A Family

“For readers of Richard Paul Evans and Greg Kincaid comes The 13th Gift, a heartwarming Christmas memoir about how a random act of kindness transformed one of the bleakest moments in a family’s history into a time of strength and love.”—Book Reporter