There is a place where animatronic penguins waddle next to an igloo and wildlife frolics with Santa on a snowy slope, in a bygone world of department store windows decorated for Christmas.
If only you could go back and jump in.
Author Jennifer Fickley-Baker transports readers through time to the holidays of 1942, when department stores in Downtown Pittsburgh reigned, in her recently released novella, “26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays” (Foxburg & Stern Books, $9.99)
A rom-com with a strong female main character, the book’s fictional Stella West is the first head of holidays for Hanover’s department store. Stella orchestrates the chaos in quickly creating 26 holiday windows at Hanover’s, inspired by the former Kaufmann’s at 434 Fifth Ave., now Kaufmann’s Apartments.
Foxburg & Stern Books 