The Secret Christmas: A Measham Hall story by Anna Abney Groundswell Speaker 2024 creatures of a different element

creatures of a different element

the wide-ranging pieces in this collection include Didion writing about a Gamblers Anonymous meeting

making it easy to safely forage mushrooms

the old man whose wagers end in a most disturbing payment

unmasked not as a 'wicked woman' as the local gossips would have it

The Secret Christmas: A Measham Hall story by Anna Abney Groundswell Speaker 2024 creatures of a different elementDecember, 1653, England. The Puritan parliament has outlawed the celebration of Christmas and while shops must stay open every day, the theatres have been forced to close their doors. The Hawthorne family have been allowed to return to their ancestral home, Measham Hall, just in time for Christmas. This is only after Sir Nicholas Hawthorne has reluctantly agreed to take an oath of loyalty to the Commonwealth. When a theatre troupe begging alms turn up