The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
If you have not had your fill of Christmas fare and jewel thievery, Doyle penned a tale in the same vein, published in 1892. It’s even tempting to suspect that Doyle’s much earlier story inspired Christie’s The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. A priceless jewel nicknamed the Blue Carbuncle has been stolen from the opulent London hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar, and Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson must find the thief and the jewel. At the start of the investigation, a Christmas goose provides a key clue, after which the pair wend their way through London settings from the British Museum to Covent Garden to solve the mystery.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Originally this world- famous story forever associated with Christmas was not about the holiday at all. At the start of 1843, Dickens read a government report about the state of child labour in England and was alarmed by the brutality of conditions that left children crippled and impoverished, working in inhumane conditions and consigned to poverty. Dickens’ anguish over the issue prompted him to conceive of writing a pamphlet, which would rouse the compassion of the rich and powerful, entitled An Appeal to the People of England on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child. Eventually he decided to create what he termed a “Christmas ghost story”, which he believed would have a greater impact through the power of imagination and people’s sense of generosity during the holidays.
The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter
We may know and love Potter best for her Peter Rabbit books, but it was this story about a poor tailor—one she self-published in 1902 after creating a single copy as a Christmas gift for a friend’s child—that she said was her favourite. It tells the story of an elderly tailor who must finish sewing a waistcoat for the mayor’s wedding the next day but falls too ill to finish his work. Overnight, with his wily housecat, Simpkin, out to fetch him more thread, the tailor frees a collection of mice that his cat has trapped under teacups. With time running short and his energy spent, only the grateful mice and his repentant cat can save his fortune.
Melissa Romo is an American writer and author of a historical novel about identity and nationhood entitled Blue-Eyed Son. She lived in London from 2013-2017 and now resides with her family in New York.
www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 17
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