A beautiful patchwork of four novellas about love and joy at Christmastime by best selling author Catherine Palmer. These four novellas were previously published in four anthologies—A Victorian Christmas Quilt, A Victorian Christmas Tea, A Victorian Christmas Cottage, and A Victorian Christmas Keepsake. Return to a time when life was uncomplicated, faith was sincere . . . and love was a gift to be cherished forever. Includes author’s favorite holiday recipes.
A Victorian Christmas Quilt will take you there ... to Christmas in England, where a spunky Texas gal faces an arranged marriage, with only her Lone Star quilt to remind her of her faraway home ... to the mountains of Colorado, where an heirloom Wedding Ring quilt paves the way for the mending of an old rift with a new love ... to a rustic cabin in Washington State, where a Log Cabin Patch quilt symbolizes the new hope awaiting a lonely young woman ... to snowy St. Paul, Minnesota, where a cherished Crosses and Losses quilt opens the door of healing and love for a grieving young couple.
The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected here, including a wide range of stories from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten. Readers whose only previous experience with Victorian Christmas ghost stories has been Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" will be surprised and delighted at the astonishing variety of ghostly tales in this volume. "In the sickly light I saw it lying on the bed, with its grim head on the pillow. A man? Or a corpse arisen from its unhallowed grave, and awaiting the demon that animated it?" - John Berwick Harwood, "Horror: A True Tale" "Suddenly I aroused with a start and as ghostly a thrill of horror as ever I remember to have felt in my life. Something--what, I knew not--seemed near, something nameless, but unutterably awful." - Ada Buisson, "The Ghost's Summons" "There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her while she lived." - Walter Scott, "The Tapestried Chamber"
A new anthology of twenty ghostly tales of Yuletide terror, collected from rare Victorian periodicals Seeking to capitalize on the success of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843), Victorian newspapers and magazines frequently featured ghost stories at Christmas time, and reading them by candlelight or the fireside became an annual tradition, a tradition Valancourt Books is pleased to continue with our series of Victorian Christmas ghost stories. This third volume contains twenty tales, most of them never before reprinted. They represent a mix of the diverse styles and themes common to Victorian ghost fiction and include works by once-popular authors like Ellen Wood and Charlotte Riddell as well as contributions from anonymous or wholly forgotten writers. This volume also features a new introduction by Prof. Simon Stern. "Before me, with the sickly light from the lantern shining right down upon it, was--a cloven hoof! Then the awfulness of the compact I had made came to my mind with terrible force ..." - Frederick Manley, "The Ghost of the Cross-Roads" "By the fireplace there was a large hideous pool of blood soaking into the carpet, and leaving ghastly stains around. I am not ashamed to confess that my brain reeled; the mysterious horror overcame me ..." - Lillie Harris, "19, Great Hanover Street" "A fearful white face comes to me; a horrible mask, with features drawn as in agony--ghastly, pale, hideous! Death or approaching death, violent death, written in every line. Every feature distorted. Eyes starting from the head. Thin lips moving and working--lips that are cursing, although I hear no sound." - Hugh Conway, "A Dead Man's Face"
Christmas fascinated the great Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, and to Victorian England, Dickens was Christmas. Following the enormous success in 1843 of A Christmas Carol, Dickens wrote several other Christmas books, sketches, and short stories, and the holiday plays a part in many of his novels. Dickens' public, it seemed, couldn't get enough of his depictions of the season. This beautifully illustrated anthology contains the entire text of A Christmas Carol as well as excerpts from Dickens’ other writings that vividly describe houses decked in greenery and lighted candles, mistletoe in the hall and holly wreaths on the door, and lavish, waistcoat-popping dinners. Authentic recipes for 19th-century treats like plum pudding, mince pies, and gingerbread men allow readers to pop a few buttons of their own. Packed with delightful seasonal illustrations, including many original Dickens illustrations, this lovingly compiled book celebrates the Victorian Christmas in all its warmth and charm.
The Edgar Award-winning editor collects sixty of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories—from Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy, to Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain. • “Anyone who cares about the best mystery writing of the past century and beyond would be lucky to receive this thick volume during the holidays." —The Washington Post This collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant. Included are puzzles by Mary Higgins Clark, Isaac Asimov, and Ngaio Marsh; uncanny tales in the tradition of A Christmas Carol by Peter Lovesey and Max Allan Collins; O. Henry-like stories by Stanley Ellin and Joseph Shearing, stories by pulp icons John D. MacDonald and Damon Runyon; comic gems from Donald E. Westlake and John Mortimer; and many, many more. Almost any kind of mystery you’re in the mood for--suspense, pure detection, humor, cozy, private eye, or police procedural—can be found in these pages. FEATURING: - Unscrupulous Santas - Crimes of Christmases Past and Present - Festive felonies - Deadly puddings - Misdemeanors under the mistletoe - Christmas cases for classic characters including Sherlock Holmes, Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Inspector Ghote, A.J. Raffles, and Nero Wolfe.
