THE CHRISTMAS CARP

by Vicki Baum ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 1941

See page 450 for other titles in this group of little Christmas books. I liked this late comer best of the lot. A story of Vienna, first a nostalgic picture of old Christmas joys and festivities, presided over by the forbidding aunt who always arrived in time to make cookies and to shop for the carp which was the piece de resistance at the Christmas feast. Then a post-anschluss Christmas, ersatz cookies, and even a carp, smuggled over the border alive, by the faithful Jewish fish merchant, and kept alive in the family bathtub for three weeks. At the appointed time, nobody could bear to kill him -- he had become a friend. And when the aunt undertook it herself, nobody could eat a morsel. A so -- of what use to kill, they ask. Tenderly told, with vivid recapturing of the spirit of Christmas, and a current timeliness.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1941

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday, Doran

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1941

Categories: FICTION