A retelling of the classic festive story by Alexandre Dumas which inspired Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. Full of wonder and imagination, featuring original black-and-white illustrations by French artist Bertall.
On Christmas Eve, seven-year-old Mary excitedly opens her presents. She unwraps an intriguing little nutcracker figure from her godfather.
One night, as the clock strikes twelve, young Mary's Nutcracker comes alive to battle a ferocious army of mice. The next day Mary eagerly tells her family what she witnessed, but only godfather Drosselmayer believes her.
Drosselmayer tells Mary the story of a young mechanic who accidentally brought a curse upon the charming Princess Pirlipata. A far-flung quest for the mystical Cracatook Nut ensues, and all of a sudden Mary and her Nutcracker are whisked away to a magical land . . .
This edition of The Nutcracker is part of the Macmillan Collector's Library, a series of stunning pocket-sized classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.
Autorentext
Alexandre Dumas was born in 1802. After a childhood of extreme poverty, he took work as a clerk, and met the renowned actor Talma, and began to write short pieces for the theatre. After twenty years of success as a playwright, Dumas turned his hand to novel-writing, and penned such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), La Reine Margot (1845) and The Black Tulip (1850). After enduring a short period of bankruptcy, Dumas began to travel extensively, still keeping up a prodigious output of journalism, short fiction and novels. He fathered an illegitimate child, also called Alexandre, who would grow up to write La Dame aux Camélias. He died in Dieppe in 1870.