The Story of a Nutcracker

It is Christmas Eve in Paris, and young Marie has received the most wonderful gift: a nutcracker soldier, carved and painted and utterly alive to her imagination. That night, as the clock strikes midnight and the rest of the household sleeps, the nutcracker comes to life — and leads Marie into a world of toy soldiers and mouse kings and battles fought in the living room while snowflakes fall.

Alexandre Dumas — the master storyteller behind The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo — retold E.T.A. Hoffmann’s magical Christmas story for his own children, and the result is pure delight. Dumas brings his famous gifts for pace, warmth, and adventure to a tale that is both intimate and enchanting, adding details and characters that make the story completely his own while honouring everything that made Hoffmann’s original beloved.

This is the story that inspired Tchaikovsky’s incomparable ballet, and in Dumas’s telling it has a warmth and a playfulness that feel completely fresh. A timeless Christmas classic in a beautiful compact edition — perfect for readers of all ages. Published by Vintage.