Showing results for "A Christmas Carol" in Historical Fiction

With her husband, Nick, away fighting, Dora struggles to keep the home fires burning but finds herself in a difficult position when she is put in charge of a ward of injured German POWs. Can she find it in her heart to care for her enemies? Fellow nurse Kitty faces a similar struggle looking after the men who killed her beloved brother. But her life becomes even more complicated when she falls for one of the prisoners. And Helen Denton returns from nursing in Europe with a secret. She has her own reasons for hating the Germans.

The previous year, Therese learned the trick to keeping her unexpected guests out of mischief. She casts around and discovers that the new organist, who plays superbly, has a strange failing. He requires the written music in front of him before he can play a piece, and the church's book of Christmas carols has gone missing.

Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’, and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price. And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart....

Charles Dickens is one of the most famous and influential writers in English literature, and Heather Redmond's delightful series asks what if Dickens had also solved crimes? Now, the third book in the acclaimed A Dickens of a Crime series reimagines Dickens' most famous story, A Christmas Carol, as a murder mystery with Dickens himself as the sleuth.

Flo Butterworth and the village singing group are asked to perform a carol concert at the local hospital. This stirs up bad memories for Flo, who lost her family at Christmas in the Blitz. VAD nurse, Evie Jones, is faced with a dilemma that throws her life into turmoil. Will Evie find a way to solve the problem and keep all she holds dear?

December 1860. Headed for the morning shift at the Swindon Locomotive Works is an army of men pouring out of terraced houses built by the GWR, a miniature town and planned community that aims to provide for its employees from cradle to grave. Unfortunately, boilersmith Frank Rodman is headed for the grave sooner than he'd expected, or he will be once his missing head is found. Colbeck, the Railway Detective, finds his investigation into Rodman's murder mired in contradictions.

It’s Christmas 1880 in London’s East End, and a dying Irish girl leaves her baby in the care of the Sisters of Clemency. The nuns raise little Ettie O’Reilly as their own. But the lives of the nuns and orphans are soon crushed by an unexpected turn of events. Ettie is at her lowest ebb when she is betrayed by the boy who has promised his undying love and loyalty. She is faced with the revelation of a heart-wrenching secret.

Kent, 1953. The Woolworths Erith store, a beloved cornerstone of the community, faces closure if the December turnover fails to increase. And, as if store manager Betty Billington doesn't have enough on her plate, personnel shortages and a troublesome new employee add to the strife. With Christmas on the horizon, Betty and her staff must strive to find solutions to improve business and keep the store running – from special events for late-night customers to a festive group trip into central London.

"Marley was dead to begin with...." These chillingly familiar words begin the classic Christmas tale of remorse and redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now R. William Bennett rewinds the story and focuses the spotlight on Scrooge’s miserly business partner, Jacob T. Marley, who was allowed to return as a ghost to warn Scrooge away from his ill-fated path. Why was Marley allowed to return? And why hadn’t he been given the same chance as Ebenezer Scrooge? Or had he?

This collection includes three charming and festive holiday novellas spiced with humor, frontier action, and sweet romance.

When Juliana Issot’s godmother invites her to spend the month of Christmas at a house party in Yorkshire, Juliana feels compelled by affection to accept. Never mind that she escaped Yorkshire at first chance to secure a more glittering match in London and that the only matrimonial prospect back home is her childhood playmate, Willelm.

The intriguing tale is centred around a selfish young lady called Carol, who somehow makes it her business to ruin everybody's Christmas celebrations each and every year, with her awful greedy father, Ebegezer Stooge, encouraging her to develop her ever enveloping sense of greed for financial gain. In complete contrast, her lovely brothers, Sheridan and Kingsley, aim to use their diverse range of musical skills to raise money for the poor.

After the deaths of her mother and stepfather, 20-year-old Carol Stone finds herself in reduced circumstances with two younger siblings to care for. The suggested marriage of convenience is out of the question, so she stalls for time. When Carol learns she is the sole heir of a small home in Carrie Town, a newly expanded railroad village, she throws caution to the Texas wind and packs her bags.

This Christmas, celebrate the joys of the season with a trio of exquisitely crafted, richly romantic tales by three of the brightest stars in contemporary fiction. Filled with passion, drama, and a touch of magic, this festive gathering of classic stories, available for the first time in 10 years, tells about the lives and loves of one unforgettable family and the enchanted heirloom that links one generation to the next.

Eleven years later, Hugh FitzSimon is a broken man. He is forsaken, alone, a wretch left to wallow in his grief. A scrooge to rival Ebeneezer, he is visited by the ghost of his dead wife, who has come to reveal what life has been, what it could be, and where it will end if the candle burns out before FitzSimon has made amends. Meantime, in the Highlands, the MacKinnon clan faces their darkest hour. With their village destroyed by fire, and winter on the way, how can they rally when whispers of war have already begun? A very unexpected "ghost" may help them find their way.

How wonderful it is for those who love Christmas to listen to stories that inspire the happiest of seasons. And no story is as compelling as Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, penned in 1843. But what triggered Dickens' imagination to write a story so unlike anything he had written before? In Eben Kruge, author Richard Barlow Adams delivers a pause-resisting narrative that weaves fact and fiction for a penetrating look inside the life and psyche of Dickens when he and wife Catherine traveled to America in 1842 at the invitation of Washington Irving.

Pandemic and piracy, personal loss and epiphany, piety and the gift of nativity - all come together in The First Nowell: A Cornish Christmas Carol. Set against the turbulent background of 17th-century Cornwall, the narrative tracks contemporary historical events that ripped at the social fabric of Southwest Britain. It is a tale of tragedy. Of Black Death. Destroying inland villages and uprooting the pillars of faith. Of incursion. Murdering or enslaving coastal villagers, leaving rapacity and smoking ruin in its wake.

In The Six-Shooter James Stewart starred as Britt Ponset, a drifting cowboy in the sunset years of the Wild West. Episodes ranged from straight Western drama to light and sentimental comedy. Stewart being one of the reigning stars of Hollywood at the time also brought his own touches to bear. His use of whispered narration during tense scenes created a heightened sense of drama and then relief when the situation was resolved.