A touching collection of stories about Christmas benevolence and love by the classic American author Louisa May Alcott.
The novel Little Women, made Louisa May Alcott a household name. She wrote volumes of books and stories under both her own name and pseudonyms. Stephen W. Hines first resurrected her lost short story The Quiet Little Woman and included it in a slim book of three short Christmas stories by the same title. He followed the collection with an expanded volume, Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury: The Complete Christmas Collection. The second volume contains the three stories from The Quiet Little Woman and includes many other Christmas tales of from Alcott.
The Compiler and Editor
Stephen W. Hines is a writer, researcher, and editor with a passion for the unknown works of notable American authors. He first compiled and edited unknown and rediscovered writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the early 1990’s in a collection called Little House in the Ozarks, the Rediscovered Writings. After the success of The Quiet Little Woman in 1999-2000, he put together an extended and volume of Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas writings. The subsequent collection, Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury: The Complete Christmas Collection, is a more rounded look at Alcott’s writings regarding the Christmas season and has many strong and beautiful stories in it.
The Stories
The book is a 283-page collection of twenty short stories by Alcott. Some of the stories are complete in themselves while others are excerpts from longer writings that Hines skillfully edited into independent stories. Where necessary, Hines includes an editorial comment at the end of the story relating how a particular story fits into Alcott’s life and into the body of her work.
Among the most notable stories is one called A Hospital Christmas. It is about men in a hospital ward who are recovering from their emotional and physical injuries sustained during war. The story relates the experiences of kind-hearted nurse, Miss Hale, and the men who respond to her gentle ministrations. The story clearly reflects Alcott’s experiences as a nurse at a Union hospital during the Civil War.
Another worthwhile story, Mrs. Podger’s Teapot, combines one of Alcott’s favorite themes, generosity to impoverished and orphaned children, with an endearing love story between two unlikely romantic figures.
Of course, there are many stories of bucolic life such as A Country Christmas and Kate’s Choice. There are also stories about Christmas miracles in the lives of the poorest and weakest such as A Christmas Dream, and How it Came True which is a child’s twist on the tale of Scrooge. Another sweet story is titled What Love Can Do, which underscores how the small kindnesses of others will inspire kindness in those around them.
Alcott also focuses on the ability of children to aspire for more than the world offers and to strive valiantly to reach their goals. She shows and how the aspirations of a child often change the lives of the adults that surround them by telling us stories such as A Christmas Turkey and Tessa’s Surprises
Louisa May Alcott, The Author
At the end of the book, Hines includes the brief essay The Virtues of Louisa May Alcott’s Characters. In the essay, he explains why he believes the moralistic stories of a self-proclaimed old maid manage to win the hearts of not only adults but children too. His essay provides insight into not only the life of one woman but also into the hearts of those who respond to not only her stories but her life as well.
In Conclusion
If you are a fan of Louisa May Alcott’s work, this collection of Christmas stories will provide further insight into the hope for social reform and a better world that informed much of Louisa May Alcott’s life and work. Alcott’s belief in social reform and her persistent hope that the world could be improved was reflected in both her professional work as an author and in her personal life as person who strove to make a home for her family and those she loved.
Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury: The Complete Christmas Collection, by Louisa May Alcott (RiverOak Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-58919-950-2).
