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Christmas- Tree Land
It was not their home. That was easy to be seen by the eager looks of curiosity and surprise on the two little faces inside the heavy travelling carriage. Yet the faces were grave, and there was a weary look in the eyes, for the journey had been long, and it was not for pleasure that it had been undertaken. The evening was drawing in, and the day had been a somewhat gloomy one, but as the light slowly faded, a soft pink radiance spread itself over the sky. They had been driving for some distance through a flat monotonous country; then, as the ground began to rise, the coachman relaxed his speed, and the children, without knowing it, fell into a half slumber.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1884
About the author
Mrs. Molesworth
435 books22 followersMary Louisa Molesworth, née Stewart was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs. Molesworth. Her first novels, for adult readers, Lover and Husband (1869) to Cicely (1874), appeared under the pseudonym of Ennis Graham. Her name occasionally appears in print as M.L.S. Molesworth.
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 28, 2019
I wanted to like this so much and I did, sort of. It is the type of children's book that the Series of Unfortunate Events was mocking. The children are so good and so precious that you just long for someone to go on a rampage. Maybe I need to be in a different mood to read it.
July 31, 2025
This is the Die Hard of children's Christmas books. It takes place in Christmas Tree Land, at Christmas. And yet, it is not a Christmas story. Instead, it is a fantasy novel in the vein of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, or even more like the Faraway Wishing Tree, because it's entirely low stakes fantasy where two children with a dead mother and a busy father have to go and live with a stern aunt, so they spice up their life with adventures with a fairy godmother of dubious reality. If the whole thing is a dream, it's in the mind of Rollo, because Maia spends the whole book being negged for normal childhood behaviour like being curious or impatient, whereas Rollo is the golden child. Then right at the end, possibly after an editor cleared his throat and said "But it's a Christmas story?", Mrs. Molewsorth throws in a chapter about the true meaning of Christmas, which ironically has nothing whatsoever to do with the entire rest of the book. Just like going to a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza the very night a group of German terrorists have planned their very clever heist, is not in fact a Christmas movie. It's just a bunch of stuff that happens around Christmas.
December 20, 2023
I read a bit more than 2/3 of this book, from the 1800s. It is fantasy, of which I am normally not a fan of, except for The Chronicles of Narnia and select other books. This might be a children's book but it is too wordy. I actually fell asleep reading, but I was tired and possibly it was not the book.
I wanted to like the book. It has a nice premise: two children, find themselves without parents and deposited at the home of a wealthy aristocrat cousin's home. All is different and they long for home. But things change when they find themselves in the enchanted woodland on once a week holidays. The adventures seem to be almost stand alone accounts.
I do not know how the book wraps up or if there is a point to it all. It seemed there was not any great lesson to be learned at 66 percent through it.
The book is not badly written and the two characters are sweet. Still, it did not interest me enough to force myself to finish it.
You may enjoy it if you like fantasy, fairy types, and children themes.
I wanted to like the book. It has a nice premise: two children, find themselves without parents and deposited at the home of a wealthy aristocrat cousin's home. All is different and they long for home. But things change when they find themselves in the enchanted woodland on once a week holidays. The adventures seem to be almost stand alone accounts.
I do not know how the book wraps up or if there is a point to it all. It seemed there was not any great lesson to be learned at 66 percent through it.
The book is not badly written and the two characters are sweet. Still, it did not interest me enough to force myself to finish it.
You may enjoy it if you like fantasy, fairy types, and children themes.
November 26, 2018
This was an interesting collection of short stories from the 19th century that has a Christmas theme.
December 27, 2020
I got bored and skipped to the end. Apparently I didn’t miss much.
November 24, 2021
I thought this was a lovely story. A fairytale, beautiful.
December 30, 2022
A very cutesy book to read to very young children
October 20, 2011
A classical childrens tale of fantasy in the style of E B Nesbit and C S Lewis
March 22, 2016
Not worth anyone's time. Not a bad book, but pointless.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews