A Christmas MemoryTogether in one festive, keepsake volume, here are the three holiday stories that Truman Capote regarded as among his greatest works of short fiction. “A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor” were inspired by Capote’s early years with a family of distant relatives in rural Alabama. These two childhood tales pay loving tribute to an eccentric old-maid cousin, Miss Sook Faulk, who became Capote’s best friend. In “A Christmas Memory,” Miss Sook, Buddy (the narrator), and their dog, Queenie, celebrate the yuletide in a hilariously tipsy state. In the poignant reminiscence “One Christmas,” six-year-old Buddy journeys to New Orleans for a reunion with his estranged father that shatters many illusions. And in “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” Miss Sook invites an unexpected guest to the holiday meal: the school bully, Odd Henderson, whom Buddy calls “the meanest human creature in my experience.” Distinguished by Capote’s delicate interplay of childhood sensibility and recollective vision, these three classics are gems that celebrate the unique bonds of friends and family. |
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Alabama Annabel arrived Bang biscuits bottle bougainvillea Buddy buggy cakes cameo child Christmas Eve Christmas Memory Christmas tree cockleburs coffee cold colored Conklin sisters cousin Billy Bob dance dime door eyes farms father fire fish floor fried fruitcake weather funny grass Grass Harp guests Haha Haha's hair hands happened hated head hear Jumbo kill kitchen kite knew lady laughed listen look Lord Mary Taylor Wheelwright metic Miss Sook Molly morning mother never Odd Henderson Odd's Orleans parlor pasture patio garden penny piano porch Queenie rat terrier Rudolph Ruzicka Santa Claus scarlet spider sing sitting sleep smiling smokehouse snow Sook's stars stop stove sweater sweet tell tennis shoes THANKSGIVING VISITOR thing thought took town Truman Capote turkey Uncle B.'s voice walked whiskey window winter woman