Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories

Collects five of the author's Christmas stories featuring holiday depictions of the middle class and gentry of Victorian England.
One of five beloved Christmas classics in collectible hardcover editionsChristmas at Thompson Hall brings together the best of the Christmas stories of Anthony Trollope, one of the most successful, prolific, and respected English novelists of the nineteenth century. Characterized by insightful, psychologically rich, and sometimes wryly humorous depictions of the middle class and gentry of Victorian England—and inspired occasionally by missives in the “lost letter” box of the provincial post office that Trollope ran—these tales helped to enshrine the traditions of the decorated Christmas tree, the holiday turkey, and the giving of store-bought gifts. Today, they open a window onto a time when carolers filled the streets and each house’s door displayed a wreath of evergreen boughs, a time at once distant and yet startlingly familiar.Penguin Christmas ClassicsGive the gift of literature this Christmas.Penguin Christmas Classics honor the power of literature to keep on giving through the ages. The five volumes in the series are not only our most beloved Christmas tales, they also have given us much of what we love about the holiday itself.A Christmas Carol revived in Victorian England such Christmas hallmarks as the Christmas tree, holiday cards, and caroling. The Yuletide yarns of Anthony Trollope popularized throughout the British Empire and around the world the trappings of Christmas in London. The holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott shaped the ideal of an American Christmas.The Night Before Christmas brought forth some of our earliest Christmas traditions as passed down through folk tales. AndThe Nutcracker inspired the most famous ballet in history, one seen by millions in the twilight of every year.Beautifully designed—with foil-stamped jackets, decorative endpapers, and nameplates for personalization—and printed in a small trim size that makes them perfect stocking stuffers, Penguin Christmas Classics embody the spirit of giving that is at the heart of our most time-honored stories about the holiday.Collect all five Penguin Christmas Classics:A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensChristmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories by Anthony TrollopeA Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May AlcottThe Night Before Christmas by Nikolai GogolThe Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann
Anthony Trollope's heartwarming tales of Christmas, presented in a beautiful hardcover edition perfect for giving as a gift. Christmas at Thompson Hall collects the best Christmas tales of Anthony Trollope, the enormously popular author of the Chronicles of Barsetshire and Palliser series of novels. Mostly set in Trollope's imaginary county of Barsetshire, the stories depict the festive period with all Trollope's trademark zest, humour, and cheerfulness, and offer rich and psychologically acute portrayals of the middle class and gentry of Victorian England at Christmas time. Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was born in London to a bankrupt barrister father and a mother who, as a well-known writer, supported the family. Trollope enjoyed considerable acclaim both as a novelist and as a senior civil servant in the British Postal Service. He published more than forty novels and many short stories that are regarded by some as among the greatest of nineteenth-century fiction.