The Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas

Title: The Nutcracker (Barnes & Noble Leather-bound Pocket Editions)

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Publisher: Barnes and Noble Inc/Fall River Press

Published: 1st September 2018

Format: Leather bound

Pages: 152

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: Discover the real story behind the Disney holiday film, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and the famous Nutcracker Christmas ballet, as told by Alexandre Dumas

‘How could you imagine, silly child, that this toy, which is made of cloth and wood, could possibly be alive?’

The nutcracker doll that mysterious Godfather Drosselmeyer gives to little Marie for Christmas is no ordinary toy. On Christmas Eve, as the clocks strike midnight, Marie watches as the Nutcracker and her entire cabinet of playthings come to life and boldly do battle against the evil Mouse King and his armies.
But this is only the start of the tale.

Read on for enchantment and transformation; enter a world by turns fantastical and sinister, a kingdom of dolls and spun-sugar palaces, and learn the true history of the brave little Nutcracker.

~*~

The Nutcracker is one of those stories that is inexplicably linked to Christmas, whether it is the E.T.A Hoffman version, Tchaikovsky’s ballet, one of the many movie adaptations, including the upcoming Disney film, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and finally, the version being reviewed here, by Alexandre Dumas, who also wrote The Three Musketeers. Marie, or Mary as she is referred to in this version, is given a nutcracker doll for Christmas by Godfather Drosselmeyer, but unlike her doll, Clara, is magical, and when the clocks strike midnight on Christmas Eve, Marie watches the Nutcracker and her dolls come to life, battle the evil Mouse King, and take Marie/Mary on a journey through a world of magical dolls, and sugar-spun palaces, and many more realms that show the fantastical and sinister world that the Nutcracker is truly a part of.

The Nutcracker is one of those stories – whether in the written form, a movie or as the ballet – that is quintessentially linked with Christmas, much like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and the associations with a world of magic and toys often sung about in a myriad of Christmas songs, and is one of those stories that sets the mood for Christmas perfectly and nicely. Originally published in 1847 as The History of a Nutcracker, this new edition introduces people to the Nutcracker anew as they go in a journey with Mary/Marie (depending on which translation and author you read) through the world that the Nutcracker, the toys and the Mouse King inhabit – a magical world of wonder and joy, where Mary/Marie is destined to help the Nutcracker bring order back to the world and kingdoms she enters in her dreams.

For a long time, I only knew of the Nutcracker as a ballet by Tchaikovsky, and have the score, or at least, the main piece of music, somewhere. I also knew about it from a movie I once saw, so when I found it as a novel, I knew I had to read it, and I was not disappointed. It really sets the mood for Christmas and is entertaining – though Mary is admonished for staying up after midnight on Christmas Eve, it is the magic of the world Mary/Marie enters, and that the reader enters too. Reading this book has really put me in the mood for Christmas and the new Nutcracker movie coming out later this month, just in time for Christmas.

I’m getting ready to do some Christmas reading of other books and the usual movies, but read this one early so I could see the movie after reading it. I look forward to seeing the movie and reading this book again soon.