Great Classic Holiday Stories : Nine Unabridged Short Stories

Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863) was an American professor of oriental and Greek literature, as well as divinity and biblical learning, at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City. He is the author of the yuletide poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” which became famous as “The Night before Christmas.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on November 30th, 1874, in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Although she lived during a time when few women received a higher education, Lucy attended Prince Wales College in Charlottestown, PEI, and then Dalhousie University in Halifax. At seventeen she went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to write for a newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle, and for its evening edition, the Echo. But Lucy returned to live with her grandmother in Cavendish, PEI, where she taught and contributed stories to magazines. It was this experience, along with the lives of her farmer and fisherfolk neighbors, that came alive when she wrote her Anne books, beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). Anne of Green Gables brought her overnight success and international recognition. It was followed by eight other books about Anne and Avonlea, as well as a number of other delightful novels, including her Emily series, which began in 1923 with Emily of New Moon. But it is her delightful heroine Anne Shirley, praised by Mark Twain as “the most moving and delightful child of fiction since the immortal Alice,” who remains a popular favorite throughout the world. She and her husband, the Rev. Ewen MacDonald, eventually moved to Ontario. Lucy Montgomery died in Toronto in 1942.

Washinton Irving (1783–1859), American essayist, novelist, and historian, was born in New York to a wealthy merchant. He studied law, but because of his delicate health, his family sent him on a tour of Europe, where he collected material later used in his stories and essays. The first American author to achieve international fame, his literary career served in many ways to consolidate the cultures of the United States and Europe.

Helen Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), born in London, is regarded as one of the world’s best-loved children’s authors of all time. From her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) she went on to create a series of stories based around animal characters including Mrs Tiggy-winkle, Mr Jeremy Fisher, and Tom Kitten. Her humorous, lively tales and beautiful illustrations have become a natural part of childhood. A source of inspiration was the Lake District where she lived for the last thirty years of her life as a farmer and conservationist. Her books have been translated into nearly every language and have never been out of print.

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872–1958) was a nationally recognized American author. She was a frequent contributor to the Ladies’ Home Journal.

O. Henry (1862–1910), born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina, was a short-story writer whose tales romanticized the commonplace, in particular, the lives of ordinary people in New York City. His stories often had surprise endings, a device that became identified with his name. He began writing sketches around 1887, and his stories of adventure in the Southwest United States and in Central America were immediately popular with magazine readers.

Francis Pharcellus Church (1839–1906) was an American publisher and editor. Church is most remembered for his 1897 editorial “Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.”

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors’ prison and child labor and afforded him a few years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature’s most iconic characters.

Paul Boehmer is an American actor best known for his numerous appearances in the Star Trek universe, in addition to Frasier, Judging Amy, Guiding Light, and All My Children. He is a 1992 Masters of Fine Arts graduate of the Professional Theater Training Program at the University of Delaware. As a narrator, Paul has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie Award.

Gregory Itzin is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as President Charles Logan in the series 24, a role for which he was twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy. He has had appearances in a number of television’s most popular shows during the span of his career, including, Matlock, ER, CSI, Friends, The West Wing, and three different Star Trek series. He’s also had roles in numerous films including, Adaptation, The Ides of March, and Lincoln. Most recently he’s had recurring roles in The Mentalist and Covert Affairs.

Dana Green is an audiobook narrator whose readings include Join the Club by Tina Rosenberg, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar by Megan Stack, and Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla R. Miller.

Jane Carr is an English actress whose career has spanned over forty years. She has appeared in many stage productions, including Broadway’s The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and several classic plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She earned an American audience with her roles on television’s Dear John and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and as the voice of Mama Cosma in the animated series The Fairly OddParents. Carr lives in Los Angeles.