A Christmas Dinner

Charles Dickens penned this sketch in December, 1835 as his conception of an ideal Yuletide gathering. Dickens, who may have invented the modern notion of Christmas, had lively ideas about what a family Christmas should be—-down to how preparations should be shared, what dainties might be served and what should be part of a Christmas Day Feast.This book is enriched with the Christmas menus devised and recipes (some from the Dickens household) adapted for contemporary cooks by distinguished culinary historian, Alice Ross, as well as with an introduction by Dickens' most important living biographer and prize-winning novelist, Peter Ackroyd. Also included are 16 original and historically accurate paintings by the talented young artist, Sharon Stein.