Goodreads asked Shelagh Watkins:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Shelagh Watkins Last year, my first Christmas story was so well received it gave me the idea to write more stories throughout 2014. I've just published a collection of five short stories based on Christmas classics that have captivated readers for centuries. These versions turn the plot lines around to give a new, modern slant to traditional tales that have endured across the years.

The first story, A Christmas Caller, is a version of what is probably the most loved of all Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The second story, Not a Single Match, is more upbeat and turns around the sadness in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. The third story, A Wedding and a Christmas Tree, is a modern version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic Christmas story, A Christmas Tree and a Wedding. The Fourth story, The Gift of the Magpie, is based on O. Henry’s wonderful story, The Gift of the Magi. The final story, His Birthday Reality, is a modern-day version of Her Birthday Dream by Nellie C. King.

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