The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter

Description

The ultimate festive anthology of the best Christmas stories of all time, selected from around the world Truman Capote makes whisky-soaked fruitcake in Alabama; Laurie Lee slides across a frozen pond in Gloucestershire; and Shirley Jackson is outwitted by a wily Santa Claus at the bank. Ghosts haunt the Christmases of Muriel Spark and Elizabeth Bowen, while Dostoyevsky, Daphne du Maurier and Italo Calvino take a cynical view of the season and Selma Lagerlof and Angela Carter celebrate its miracles. Ranging from Cork to Lagos to the Wild West, and from Paris to San Paolo to outer space, this is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short-story writers of all time.

For more than half a century, Penguin Classics has been the leading publisher of classics in the English-speaking world. Since the publication of the first Penguin Classic in 1946-E. V. Rieu's translation of The Odyssey-Penguin's mission has been to make the great books of all time available at a reasonable cost. To this end, Penguin is dedicated to making sure that these books speak to contemporary readers by embracing excellence in scholarship, translation, and book design. The Penguin Classics list is organic. New books are brought into the series and others are removed as tastes and interest in literature evolve. Penguin's ability to react to the always evolving universe of great literature is one of the many things that has made Penguin the leader in classics publishing.

From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter, this greatest hits compilation also happens to be beautifully published. Inside you'll find ghosts, miracles, grouchy curmudgeons and plenty of snow * Daily Mail Books of the Year * Perfect for any looming Boxing Day boredom. The list of rather superior contributors includes the likes of Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Italo Calvino and Dylan Thomas * Herald Scotland Books of the Year *