A charming collection of classic winter and holiday short stories by iconic 20th-century writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, including pieces from the height of his 1920s magazine writing up to his first-ever story about Pat Hobby’s adventures in Hollywood, compiled into an irresistibly festive package.
One of the 20th century’s preeminent fiction writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald was prolific in the short story form. His stories are imbued with the same spirit as his novels: a tragicomic approach to the glamour of the Roaring Twenties, a deep attunement to nostalgia, and a fascination with social class, all told with an unwavering sensitivity to the perspective of the outsider.
Winter Dreams includes some of Fitzgerald’s best-loved work, along with lesser-known gems. “Winter Dreams” was written while Fitzgerald was plotting The Great Gatsby; like his classic novel, it portrays a young man whose ambitions become entangled with his feelings for a wealthy young woman. “The Ice Palace” follows a Southerner who observes cultural differences in the North for the first time. “A Short Trip Home” is, as Fitzgerald attests, “the first real ghost story” he ever wrote. In “The Baby Party,” a toddler’s birthday celebration goes wrong on the eve of the holidays. And “Pat Hobby’s Christmas Wish” is the first in a series of stories chronicling a once-successful screenwriter’s misadventures in Hollywood.
Destined to be read by the fire on a snowy night, these classic short stories, like the magic of the holidays, are timeless.