Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories Lucy Maud Montgomery Green Gables

211 pages. Excellent condition. From 1995. In L.M. Montgomery’s day, as now, Christmas and New Year’s was a time for family reunions, old traditions, eagerly awaited gifts, and plenty of good food. But these stories emphasize the place of simple human kindness in this holiday, and celebrate Montgomery’s favourite and enduring virtues of self-reliance and plain dealing. In many of these tales, Montgomery looks at the darker side of the holiday season, when the plight of the poor or lonely meets a bitter contrast in the gaiety and comfort of neighbours. It is this combination of shadow and sunshine, of sadness and happiness, that gives Montgomery’s writing its power to wring both tears and smiles from us and turns her readers into devoted fans who read her stories and novels over and over again.