Who Ate the Pink Sweetmeat? And Other Christmas Stories

Mary Hartwell Catherwood

1847–1902

Best known for vivid historical romances, this late-19th-century American writer brought the Midwest and early North American frontier to life with unusual care for local speech and period detail. She also published short stories and poetry, building a wide readership in magazines as well as books.

Kate Upson Clark

1851–1935

An American novelist and journalist whose popular fiction often centered on home life, relationships, and the social world around women. Writing as Kate Upson Clark, she built a long literary career that stretched from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth.

Lady Dunboyne

1842–1919

Known for devotional and family reading from the late Victorian period, this writer published as Lady Dunboyne and is linked with the name Marion Clifford. Her surviving work has the gentle, moral tone typical of religious books written for everyday readers.

Edward Everett Hale

1822–1909

Remembered for the stirring Civil War tale The Man Without a Country, this Boston writer brought together storytelling, history, and public service. He was also a longtime Unitarian minister whose books and essays aimed to connect big ideas with everyday life.

Best known today for the Christmas tale "The Patroncito’s Christmas," this little-documented 19th-century writer survives in anthologies that mix warmth, adventure, and moral feeling. The mystery around the author adds an extra layer of old-book charm.