title: The Haircut, A New Year's Tale
author: Callea, Donna
description: Her hair is her crowning glory.
  
  Leaving it all on the barber's floor is the only way she can ever hope to break free.
  Two days after Christmas, 1948, in a city that could be New York, Tasha prepares to get a life-altering haircut.  A princess from an Eastern European principality that no longer exists, she's being forced to marry a very controlling, obscenely rich American industrialist who's got a disturbing hair fetish.  He's aroused only by her amazingly long, glorious hair.  So to save herself, she decides to get it all cut off. But she doesn't count on falling in love with the handsome barber who refuses, for as long as he can, to do her bidding. Nor does Mike, a conflicted young widower still grieving for his late wife, count on becoming entranced by the strangest customer he's ever encountered. Even after Tasha is beaten beyond recognition for her act of rebellion, he finds the  terribly battered, nearly bald former princess irresistible, and does all he can to help her. Add to the mix Misha, an open-minded angel from the Old Country whose specialty is New Year's Eve, and the fairy tale begins to take a more adult turn.  Ultimately, it's a love story that weaves whimsy with romance, along with more serious themes, as it underscores the timelessness and hope of the season in which it's set.