title: The Christmas Train
author: Becnel, Rexanne
description: On the train to meet her father, young Anna Spano befriends Eva Stephens, an older woman who occasionally thinks she's traveling to her home village in pre-"World War II for the holidays. Recognizing Miss Eva's disorientation as the same dementia her late grandmother experienced, Anna isn't sure who is actually taking care of whom on the journey.
  
  At the far end of the journey, Tom Thurston is anxious about what to expect when his daughter arrives. So he's doubly shocked when a teary old woman embraces him, convinced that he is her long-lost brother.
  
  At Anna's insistence, he reluctantly agrees to bring the woman home with them and try to locate her family. And as Anna clings loyally to her new friend, and Tom struggles to be who Miss Eva needs him to be, both father and daughter begin to understand one another. And through Miss Eva, they learn the true meaning of family, and of love.