The Last Gift
The Christmas Stories of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Thomas Ruys Smith (Edited by), Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (Author)

9780807180167, LSU Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 October 2023

328 pages, 7 halftones
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.272 kg

Thomas Ruys Smith's edition of Freeman's Christmas stories is a revelation! All our presumptions about holiday stories being drenched in sentimentality are demolished by the ways in which Freeman probes the multiple meanings inherent in the acts of giving and receiving gifts and exposes the forms of both solitude and communion inherent in Christmas. This collection transforms our understanding of the season and enhances the literary reputation of this remarkable author." - Alfred Bendixen, executive director of the American Literature Association

"A lovely and varied collection of Freeman's often-neglected Christmas stories. Smith's lively introduction contextualizes Freeman's portrayal of the holiday season, in all of its complexity, and the domestic tensions that Christmas evoked for nineteenth-century women." - Leah Blatt Glasser, author of In a Closet Hidden: The Life and Work of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) was one of the most popular American writers at the turn of the twentieth century, and her annual Christmas stories appeared in magazines and periodicals across the globe. Since then, the extraordinary stories that once delighted her legions of fans every festive season have gone largely out of print and unread. Now, for the first time, The Last Gift presents a collection of Freeman's best Christmas writing, introducing these funny, poignant, provocative, and surprisingly timely holiday tales to a new generation of readers.