Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.

A Christmas love story and the only one of Dickens' Christmas stories without a supernatural theme, is about a group of philosophical friends who meet over breakfast in the woods to discuss the serious questions of life while the four daughters of one of them sing dance naturally. It's a book about the virtues of a regular, decent, simple life not stifled by the harshness of ideas. An entertaining and cheerfully uplifting love story, perfect reading for the holiday season.