Mr. Beasley’s Christmas party

Written by Booth Tarkington

Narrated by Cyril Taylor-Carr

A melodramatic folksy Christmas story, a little like Dickens – with a Tiny Tim, but also with some romance. Tarkington’s writings are very much set in his early 1900s American culture. We are meant to sympathize with the crippled child but not even notice the slights of the black servants. Still, Tarkington promotes kindness and uses a milder style of humor than many authors of his day.

Newton Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, along with William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Icon Audio Arts
• Release date: Aug 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887674582

Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington (1869 - 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist, known for most of his career as “The Midwesterner.” Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tarkington was a personable and charming student who studied at both Purdue and Princeton University. Earning no degrees, the young author cemented his memory and place in the society of higher education on his popularity alone—being familiar with several clubs, the college theater and voted “most popular” in the class of 1893. His writing career began just six years later with his debut novel, The Gentleman from Indiana and from there, Tarkington would enjoy two decades of critical and commercial acclaim. Coming to be known for his romanticized and picturesque depiction of the Midwest, he would become one of only four authors to win the Pulitzer Prize more than once for The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921), at one point being considered America’s greatest living author, comparable only to Mark Twain. While in the later half of the twentieth century Tarkington’s work fell into obscurity, it is undeniable that at the height of his career, Tarkington’s literary work and reputation were untouchable.