AustLit

Legend from Germany of those who welcome the Christ child at Christmas in whatever guise - here a little girl will have prosperity throughout the year. Brief; closes with call for charity. (PB)

Romance of southern US and England. The owner of a decaying Virginia plantation finds and marries a beautiful and penniless girl, who leaves him when her titled English uncle claims her and offers to make her new-born son his heir. Her husband comes to England and takes his sons back with him in revenge. Several months later, after the death of her remarried uncle, the beauty returns penniless to Virginia and her husband ... Romance of competing values and status - USA Vs. England etc. (Brainfever on separation is a frequent device.) (PB)

A year's passing and the return of Christmas passes a father's responsibility for his daughter's millinery bills to the new husband. (PB)

An old Ayrshire sailor recounts an adventure of his youth in 1845, on Christmas Eve. Windbound on a voyage to Dublin the narrator and his shipmates visit a local island, hear a tale of a murder and suicide for a miser's gold, and discover the buried hoard themselves. Unvarnished yarn. (PB)

A rich London merchant's quarrel with his brother's widow - a well-born lady - and her family is entered by his niece's impertinence to him in a railway carriage ... Slight; some status concerns. (PB)

Humorous sketch of a grandmother's loss of her Christmas gifts to a most helpful young man at the crowded markets. (PB)

Strongly-realised romance set in Victoria from 1882-1886. A prophetic dream at Christmas time in 1882 heralds the narrator's meeting with beautiful Olive Glynn at a Victorian seaside vacation spot one year later. He, 32 and a successful Melbourne businessman and bachelor, goes sailing with the independent world-travelling Englishwoman and they fall in love. They are forced to separate when she reveals that she is worried - though separated from her bestial husband in England. Three years later she returns to Melbourne, her husband having died ... Basic plot structure familiar but style, tone and characterisation of the 'mature' lovers plus the dream-quality of settings etc., is above average. (PB)

Light romance furthered by a mistaken Christmas card. Archibald Forbes accidentally sends his favourite lady friend the very card she had sent him the year before. The resulting misunderstanding leads him to make a proposal he might otherwise have avoided. Pleasant. (PB)

Begins with a Douglas Jerrold anecdote on the powerful effect of language not comprehended; and leads to an account of the lady who was satisfied only by a quack doctor's mumbo-jumbo, not by practical advice. (PB)

Encounter with tigers in India by an Englishman. First hand narrative. (PB)

Romance and amateur detective tale set in an English town. A graceful young lady left penniless by the death of her father, a tutor, takes a position as lady's maid to the slightly loud Lady Jakes. She teaches her mistress to be more gracious by example, is accused of theft when a missing ring is found in a glove in her room, and is cleared of guilt by her lawyer-suitor's percipience. Light. (PB)

Satiric mock romance of a poor clergyman's daughter who marries Lord Fleshpotts in London on the strength of her cooking and the shape of her arms. (PB)

Generalised romance of England. A soldier woos his lady but they are soon separated, he to fight the Arabs, taking a keepsake of embroidered shamrock leaves and her hair with him. She fears he is dead and the arrival of the keepsake with a farewell letter seem to confirm the newspaper report - until he appears himself. Very slight; insubstantial. (PB)

Tragedy of a deserted girl's death in London after being abandoned by her rich lover. Recounts the discovery of the iniquity by a young gentleman's club member who idly responds to an advertisement in a newspaper column. Brief tale of a young man's education into the seamy side of gentleman's escapades. Neatly told; sentiments wholesome. (PB)

Temperance romance. A mature woman's pity and care, and her god-daughter's love save a young man from alcoholism fostered by high society. (PB)

Account of a visit to the monument by an Englishman - includes ascent, comments on French attitude to the English etc. (PB)