It's unfortunate for some anthologies that we rate a book as a whole because most anthologies have stories of varying quality so that the good stories suffer with the inclusion of less worthy companions. The Gifts of Christmas is no exception. I hope that readers won't be deterred from considering purchase of this anthology because of its three heart rating, but I couldn't in good conscience give it any additional stars. If I could rate each story individually, that would give readers a more accurate perspective on this book. One story's great, one's quite good, and one's a waste of paper, ink, and time.
Each story is set in a different historical time period with the regency being the first and most recent proceeding to the Elizabethan era and then to a medieval setting. The stories' titles follow the theme established by the biblical allusion in the anthology's title.
The best of the three stories is "A Handful of Gold" by Mary Balogh. In a story reminiscent of Joan Wolf's His Lordship's Mistress and Ms. Balogh's own The Temporary Bride (both all-time favorites of mine), Julian Dare, Viscount Folingsby, is being pressured to marry and produce an heir. He is decidedly unenthusiastic about the prospect.
Julian accepts an invitation for him and a female companion to make up a Christmas party with a friend and his mistress. He has been attracted to Blanche Heyward, an opera dancer.
Verity Ewing, the daughter of a church rector, is dancing as Blanche in order to buy medicines for her sick sister. When Julian offers her a fantastic sum for her company, she agrees. But things don't work out as he had planned, and Verity reveals her true self as she directs her energies towards a proper celebration of the season.
Over the past several years, Ms. Balogh has written charming Christmas romances. She is one of those rare authors who can combine romance with a Christmas message and not diminish the impact of either. "A Handful of Gold" is a worthy installment in that tradition.
In "A Drop of Frankincense" by Merline Lovelace, Lady Margaret Walsh was married as a child to Sir Christopher Walsh. If the marriage is still unconsummated by a certain date, it will be annulled. Even though her sea captain husband has not been near her in years, Meg is determined that the marriage be consummated so that her wastrel cousin cannot marry her and gain all her property.
A Christmas Carol. Classics of Children's Literature. Ed. John W. Griffith and Charles H. Frey. 3rd ed.
A Christmas Carol World Lit Honors Emily Pick Often, readers don’t hear their protagonist shouting phrases such as “Bah!” and “Humbug!” , yet Ebenezer Scrooge is known as the prime character in the novel A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens. Right off the bat, the reader can notice Scrooge is known for being bitter, self-absorbed, selfish, and cruel. Over the course of the book, the reader will reevaluate the main character and notice he becomes warmer, more joyous, and more pleasant.
The title to the novella 'A Christmas Carol' this suggests that the story will be a joyful Christian message. 'Christmas' is a time for celebration and togetherness. It is the time for forgiveness, kindness and charity. 'Carol' is a chant which a group of people sing Christmas and Christian songs, so this is meant to be a time where people have fun and are united with family and friends.
Due to a combination of her being an airhead, and her want to start over and dismember her past from herself, Blanche begins self-delusion. She creates a fantasy life, in which she is still a young, beautiful, innocent woman who has ju...
Christmas has consumed itself. At its conception, it was a fine idea, and I imagine that at one point its execution worked very much as it was intended to. These days, however, its meaning has been perverted; its true purpose ignored and replaced with a purpose imagined by those who merely go through the motions, without actually knowing why they do so.
“Love and Marriage.” Life in Elizabethan England. Elizabethan.org, 25 March 2008. Web. 3 March 2014.
Charles dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol” endorses the notion that “Generosity involves more than the giving of money, it’s also about the giving of one's goodwill, compassion, sympathy, empathy and kindness. By taking his seemingly irredeemable protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey, Dickens’ intends to convey to all of society the importance of generosity. He proclaims that generosity of the spirit defines Christmas, and goes a large way towards defining true humanity for him as well.
Astell, Mary. "A Reflections Upon Marriage." The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration And The Eighteen Century. Joseph Black [et all]. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2006. Print. Pages 297-301.
Blanche who had been caring for a generation of dying relatives at Belle Reve has been forced to sell the family plantation. Blanche is a great deal less realistic than Stanley and lives in illusions which bring upon her downfall.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” From The Riverside Chaucer, Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
As Stanley continues torturing Blanche and draws Stella and Mitch away from her, Blanche’s sanity slowly dwindles. Even though she lied throughout the play, her dishonesty becomes more noticeable and irrational due to Stanley's torment about her horrible past. After dealing with the deaths of her whole family, she loses Belle Reve, the estate on which her and her sister grew up. This is too much for Blanche to handle causing her moral vision to be blurred by “her desperate need to be with someone, with ancestors for models who indulged in “epic fornications” with impunity, [Blanche] moves through the world filling the void in her life with lust” (Kataria 2). She also loses a young husband who killed himself after she found out he was gay when she caught him with another man. After that traumatic experience she needed “a cosy nook to squirm herself into because ...
The Knight’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale are both told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Although the two stories are set in the same time period and have a similar theme, they each have a distinctive tone. The Knight tells a romantic story that reflects his higher social class during the era in which he lives. The Miller tells a story in which lust, not love, is the guiding motive for the characters. The Miller is in fact drunk when he tells his story, so the Miller’s Tale contains lots of dirty jokes and complicated tricks. The Miller’s tale mirrors the Knight’s tale in a lot of ways. Both of the stories contain a love triangle.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
Dickens shows us truth, beauty, and goodness through the miraculous transformation of the character, Scrooge, in his story A Christmas Carol. In the final chapter of Dickens’ story, we are privileged to witness a complete and total alteration of the personal identity in Scrooge that exudes all that is good, all that is beautiful, and all that is true from the depths of his core; revealing a genuine heartfelt conversion.
...one of the antics at the start play to woo Olivia succeed for Orsino and Viola’s initial plan in the beginning does not blossom. This line concludes the part of Feste’s song in which he is giving a synopsis of the play. The last two stanzas are addressed to the audience and Feste thanks them.