Classic Christmas Stories and Novels

Many of the stories that shaped how we imagine Christmas were written in the 1800s and early 1900s, and many are now in the public domain, free to read online. Here are the essentials, with authors, dates and why each one still matters.

Most titles here are widely held by public libraries, and many classics are free online through Project Gutenberg. Editions, formats and availability vary, so check your local library catalogue.

A Christmas Carol and Dickens's Christmas books

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843) is the most influential Christmas story in English. Published on 19 December 1843, it follows the miser Ebenezer Scrooge through one night of visits from the ghost of his partner Jacob Marley and three spirits. It is short, divided into five "staves," and works well read aloud over five evenings.

Dickens followed it with four more Christmas books:

Dickens also wrote Christmas scenes into his novels, including the Dingley Dell chapters of The Pickwick Papers (1836–37), and published special Christmas issues of his magazines, which included the ghost story "The Signal-Man" (1866).

Fairy tales and stories from Europe

• The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1816). The darker, stranger German original behind Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet, which drew on Alexandre Dumas's French adaptation.
• The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen (1844). A seven-part tale of Gerda's journey north to rescue her friend Kai. A winter classic, though not set at Christmas.
• The Fir-Tree by Hans Christian Andersen (1844). A bittersweet fable about a tree that is never content.
• The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen (1845). A very short, sad New Year's Eve story; read it yourself before sharing with young children.
• Christmas Eve by Nikolai Gogol (1832). A comic Ukrainian folk tale, from Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, in which a blacksmith rides a devil to St. Petersburg.

American Christmas classics

• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (1905). A young, poor couple each sacrifice their most treasured possession to buy the other a gift. Collected in The Four Million (1906). About ten minutes to read aloud.
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868). Opens with Jo's line "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," and the March sisters giving away their Christmas breakfast.
• Old Christmas essays from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving (1819–20). Irving's affectionate portraits of English country Christmas helped revive holiday customs in America.
• "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church in the New York Sun (1897), answering eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon's letter.
• The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke (1895). A fourth wise man who never reaches the manger in time.
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum (1902). The Wizard of Oz author's invented origin story for Santa.

Christmas mysteries and ghost stories

• The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). Sherlock Holmes traces a stolen gem found inside a Christmas goose. Published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.
• Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James (1904). James wrote many of his tales to read aloud to friends at Christmas in Cambridge.
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (1938). A locked-room murder at a family Christmas. Not yet in the US public domain.

Older roots: medieval and myth

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century, anonymous) begins at King Arthur's Christmas feast, when a green giant proposes a beheading game. Modern translations by J.R.R. Tolkien and Simon Armitage are both popular. It rewards adults and older teens who enjoy a challenge.

Twentieth-century classics for families

• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908). The chapter "Dulce Domum" has Mole and Rat hosting carol-singing field mice on a snowy night.
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950). Narnia under the White Witch is "always winter and never Christmas" until Father Christmas arrives.
• The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935). A magical adventure over the Christmas holidays.
• A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (1956). A short, autobiographical story of baking fruitcakes with an elderly cousin in 1930s Alabama.
• Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (published 1976). Illustrated letters Tolkien wrote to his children as Father Christmas.

Where to read the classics

Public-domain texts are free on Project Gutenberg, and many libraries lend illustrated editions and audiobooks. For A Christmas Carol in particular, look for annotated editions that explain Victorian references, or illustrated versions such as those with Arthur Rackham's 1915 artwork. For young children, an abridged picture-book adaptation is a gentle first introduction before the full text.

Want ideas for sharing these aloud? See our guide to holiday reading traditions.