Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a contemporary romantic comedy by bestselling American author Janet Evanovich, published in 1988. Evanovich is famous for several series of mystery novels, notable among them her Stephanie Plum titles which feature a female bounty hunter as the protagonist. In the 2006 HarperTorch reprint of Thanksgiving, Evanovich adds an introductory letter to the reader. She writes that “before the time of Plum,” she wrote Thanksgiving and eleven other “red-hot screwball comedies.” She recalls that when she and her husband and young children lived in Virginia, they would take road trips to Colonial Williamsburg. Evanovich especially loved visiting Williamsburg during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Thanksgiving was “inspired by these happy times.” Thanksgiving follows the lightning-quick romance between a young potter, Megan Murphy, and the handsome pediatrician Dr. Patrick “Pat” Hunter. Over the holiday season in Williamsburg, Megan and Pat care for an abandoned infant, cook a Thanksgiving meal for their extended families, deliver a foal, overcome insecurities, and find true love.

Megan, a red-haired, freckled, rosy-cheeked, energetic twenty-seven-year-old, appreciates the tranquility of old Colonial Williamsburg where she sells her pottery and works weekends as a visitor aide. One crisp fall afternoon, as she sits on a park bench, enjoying a cookie, she discovers a rabbit nibbling a hole in her woolen colonial costume dress. The rabbit is collected by a cute guy with brown hair and “chocolate eyes” in faded jeans and leather jacket: Patrick Hunter. He feels an immediate spark of attraction for Megan. When Megan encounters the rabbit, Tibbles, again, she thinks Pat is an irresponsible pet owner and plans to give him a piece of her mind. She takes Tibbles to Pat’s home. Megan can’t be angry for long. She thinks Pat is loveable, like a disorganized, “casually sexy, slightly sloppy version of the boy next door.” Their talk is interrupted when eighteen-year-old Tilly Coogan rushes in and hands her baby, Timmy, to Pat, saying she’ll be back in a couple of weeks. Pat hurries after Tilly but can’t find her.

Initially scared of babies, Megan quickly changes her mind, thinking Timmy is terrific. She doesn’t want Pat to turn Timmy over to the authorities. Pat teases Megan, calling her Mrs. Hunter, as they care for the baby in shifts. Megan watches Timmy during the day and Pat cares for him when he finishes working at the hospital. Megan and Pat share dinner every night, and their mutual attraction and desire grow. Their first steamy kiss is better than any Megan has had before.



Pat fantasizes that they are a real family and wants them to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner for his own large family when they visit. Megan agrees because she also likes being “caught in the middle of a ready-made family.” However, Megan has been jilted twice before. A college boyfriend, Steve, skipped town to get away from her, and Dave, her latest ex-fiancé, walked out of the church during the wedding, leaving her at the altar. Megan tells Pat she is through with men and never plans to get married. Megan and Pat become intimate and Megan realizes that her last two engagements were “stale and ordinary” compared to what she feels for Pat. Now, her emotions are “running amok.”

Megan’s parents visit unexpectedly from Florida. Pat’s family also arrives for Thanksgiving. Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Hunter become quick friends and begin planning a Christmas wedding for Megan and Pat. Megan admits to herself that she loves Pat and starts to worry that, while he has jokingly suggested she marry him and has admitted to her he is in love with her, he has never seriously proposed. Pat worries that with his debts from medical school and new responsibilities as a full-fledged doctor, he’s not ready to take on a wife and child. Megan’s mother casually mentions that Megan’s ex-fiancé, Dave, is coming to see her.

Tilly arrives home unexpectedly with the baby’s father, her old boyfriend, Leonard Bell. She and Leonard were high school sweethearts. He joined the Navy not knowing Tilly was pregnant. Now, they are ready to get married and provide for the baby. Tilly and Leonard take Timmy back.



Bereft at the loss of Timmy, Megan feels angry at first, then empty. She pushes Pat for commitment. At a restaurant, Megan tells Pat she wants to have his baby and asks him if he wants to marry her. Pat says “no.” Dave is also in the restaurant and overhears the whole thing. A large, “linebacker type,” Dave wonders if Megan wants to marry him now. Pat lies to Dave, telling him Megan is pregnant with someone else’s baby. The two men decide to play darts, with the loser winning Megan. Pat manages to get a dart stuck in Dave’s buttock. Megan is stuck hosting Dave on her couch while he recuperates until Pat comes to the rescue and gets Dave out of the house.

Megan says she is through with Pat: she plans to move to Alexandria where her pottery is selling well. As she is packing, Pat notices a bag in her closet. Megan reveals it is her old wedding dress which she has kept as a reminder never to make the mistake of marrying again. Megan drives away, and Pat follows, trying to stop her. He follows in pursuit, but his brakes fail, and he rear-ends Megan’s car, totaling it. Megan keeps her distance from Pat for a few days. Yet, when a horse Megan agreed to take care of gets sick, she calls Pat. The horse turns out to be pregnant. Pat delivers a healthy foal, and Megan finds the experience miraculous. She vows to stop “pouting over hurt feelings and old insecurities,” and convince Pat that marriage is wonderful. Pat does not need a lot of convincing: He can’t imagine life without Megan. They admit they truly love each other. Pat proposes for real and the two envision a Christmas wedding.