The Upas Tree

e-artnow presents the Christmas Specials Series. We have selected the greatest Christmas novels, short stories and fairy tales for this joyful and charming holiday season, for all those who want to keep the spirit of Christmas alive with a heartwarming tale. Ronny West goes off to Africa by himself to research his next novel, leaving his wife, Helen, in England, unaware that she is pregnant. Ronnie is due to return around Christmas, but on the way he stops off in Leipzig where he meets one of Helen's cousins, Aubrey, a 'bad guy' who had once proposed to her. Aubrey finds Helen's letter in which she notifies Ronnie of giving birth to their child, and hides it from Ronnie, trying to keep him away from going back home to her.

Florence L. Barclay (1862-1921) was an English romance novelist and short story writer. In her early forties health problems left her bedridden for a time and she passed the hours by writing. Several of her novels were made into movies.