Nina Rhoades (1863–1940)

Three novella-length stories, each featuring young American children abroad, are presented in this mostly charming vintage title from 1911.

In the eponymous Maisie's Merry Christmas, the much-indulged but essentially good-hearted Maisie Barton, the only child of wealthy Americans traveling in Nice, is challenged by her father to make another person's holiday as merry as she recalls her own being, when she was at home. Soon meeting a blind child singer, Celeste Noel, who situation is as unfortunate as her voice is beautiful, Maisie discovers that making the holidays happy for another can be very merry indeed, and her actions in befriending the little blind girl lead to a most heartwarming conclusion...

The second tale, Jill and Lill, is also set at Christmas-time, and concerns the reconciliation of a family previously divided by pride, and by disagreement about a marriage. The titular characters, twin sisters being raised by their widowed artist mother in Florence, become acquainted with and then befriend an American gentleman visiting the city, who a short time before lost his wife and young daughter in a tragic accident. Little do they know that this gentleman is no stranger, but the very uncle with whom their mother once quarreled, and whom Lill believes is a terrible villain. The story plays out against the terrible tragedy of the Messina earthquake of 1908...

How Reggie Saw the Sphinx, which appears not to be a holiday story, opens on a steamer traveling from Naples to Cairo, and concerns the friendship between a little American boy, traveling with his parents, and a little English girl, traveling with a Nurse, and meant to be joining her colonel father in Egypt. When Phyllis Willoughby's father is not to be found, after the steamer reaches its destination, Reggie and his family take charge of Phyllis, until her father can be found. But one day, that young man convinces his new friend to play truant, and to set out alone to see the pyramids and the sphinx...

I found the first two stories in Maisie's Merry Christmas immensely enjoyable, and if the book had consisted of just these selections, would most likely have rated it a solid four stars. Unfortunately, I did not feel the same about How Reggie Saw the Sphinx, which reduced my overall reading pleasure. I know little about author Nina Rhoades, other than that she penned more than twenty-five works of fiction (usually for young girls) from 1901 through 1930, and that she was blind. Apparently she included blind characters in many of her stories, as was done here, in Maisie's Merry Christmas. This was the first of her books I have read, and I found her writing enjoyable—I definitely plan to seek out more of her work—and her stories heartwarming. Unfortunately, when it came to the third tale, I found my enjoyment was decreased by the frequent exclamations of various characters, lamenting that all these black "heathens" were running around Cairo. To her credit, Rhoades mostly puts these remarks in the mouth of Nurse, who is a thoroughly unpleasant character, and she has Reggie explain to Phyllis at one point that black people can be very nice (using the example of a "colored" coachman at home), but the effect is still unpleasant.

All in all, it was the Christmas stories that led me to pick this book up, and those stories were the ones I enjoyed. I will certainly give Rhoades another try, but as for this, I suppose I would only 2/3rds recommend it.… (altro)