The Christmas Doll (Unabridged)

Long ago in London Town, at a time when the muffin man's cries began the day and the lamplighter ushered in the night, two young orphans lived together in the bleak, cold shelter of a public workhouse.

Lucy Wolcott and her little sister Glory have no one in the world but each other. Every day, they labor from dawn to dusk stitching blankets and sacks. There is scant little to eat and the nights are cold and damp. The only ray of light in their lives comes from the stories that Lucy invents, stories about a family she barely remembers, and a lot doll named Morning Glory who, Lucy promises, is destined to return to them someday.

When a deadly fever sweeps through the workhouse, the girls flee for their lives to the mean streets of London. There, they desperately try to figure out how to survive.

While searching through the muck by the river, Lucy finds an old, discarded doll, which Glory is certain is the long-lost Morning Glory. But Morning Glory is no ordinary doll. And how she leads the girls to the most surprising turns of fortune makes for a heartwarming story that brims with love, hope, and the truest spirit of Christmas.