In 1860 Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins collaborated on a story for the Christmas edition of Dickens’ periodical All the Year Round. That story became the novella, A Message From the Sea. Set in a seaside town in Devonshire, the message of the title is a missive brought to a family, particularly the son, Albert, whose brother has been lost at sea. It is delivered by an American captain, Captain Jorgan. What ensues is a mystery of sorts, while Jorgan and Albert attempt to decipher the riddle to the message.

At the center of the story is a series of tales written by several authors, Wilkie Collins and Harriett Parr among them. The central tales are as wonderful and riveting as the main story. When reading, I always try to put myself back in the time of the original release and think what such a story, read and reread at the Christmas season, would have been like for its Victorian audience. It is no wonder Dickens’ magazine was such a success.

Should you decide to read this novella, please seek out the complete version. Sadly, most of the reproductions list Dickens alone as the author and reproduce only the portion of the tale that he wrote. This leaves a very incomplete and unsatisfactory (in fact, unmeaningful) story. The complete version is contained in this edition (which is not listed on Goodreads) but can be found at Amazon for 99 ¢

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCQ6LLX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_image_o01?...
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This was one of the more enjoyable of Dicken's collaborative works (in this case written with Wilkie Collins, Robert Buchanan, Charles Allston Collins, Amelia Edwards and Harriet Parr). A Message from the Sea is a single integrated novella that tells a nautical adventure story combined with a family mystery all resolved through some pretty epically implausible coincidences. Dickens wrote three of the five chapters, and they are clearly recognizable and better, but the other two chapters are perfectly finely executed--with one being an shipwreck/castaway story that puts two enemies together on a small deserted island.

The story revolves around an American captain who delivers a message found in a bottle to a family in small English fishing village (lovingly described by Dickens). This sets off an unfortunate event followed by an attempt to figure out the truth, which leads to another trip, an extended flashback about the shipwreck, and a final classic Dickens resolution of a large, happy group where the wronged are vindicated and the wrong are suitably chastened (in this case in absetenia), and everyone is set to live happily ever after. ( )

Kindle freebie.

Note: Transcribed from the 1894 Chapman and Hall "Christmas Stories"
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Kindle freebie.

Note: Transcribed from the 1894 Chapman and Hall "Christmas Stories"
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Kindle freebie.

Note: Transcribed from the 1894 Chapman and Hall "Christmas Stories"
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