Book description
Drawing upon the original Christian legends that coalesced over centuries into the familiar, jolly form of Saint Nicholas, pulp fiction pioneer Seabury Quinn weaves a spellbinding new origin for this most beloved of children’s icons in his classic novella Roads.“I have not tried to paint the portrait of a man,…
Why read it?
1 author picked Roads as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
To my mind, this is the finest of all Christmas stories. Written by Seabury Quinn in 1938, it successfully combines two supremely different sorts of Christmas stories. One style is religious and involves the Nativity and the infant Jesus. The other type, of course, is tales of Santa Claus, often explaining his origin.
I cannot recall any fiction that combines these two motifs, a type of story that is sadly missing from our culture except for this book, which blends the true meaning of Christmas with the Santa Claus narrative and does it to perfection.
Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol…
If you love Roads...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like Roads?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Roads.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,299
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Roads, you might also like...
Karl's War
Karl's War is a coming-of-age-meets-thriller set in Germany on the eve of Hitler coming to power. Karl – a reluctant poster boy for the Nazis – meets Jewish Ben and his world is up-turned.
Ben and his family flee to France. Karl joins the German army but deserts and finds…
Girl in the Ashes
Odette Lefebvre is a serial killer stalking the shadows of Nazi-occupied Paris and must confront both the evils of those she murders and the darkness of her own past.
This young woman's childhood trauma shapes her complex journey through World War II France, where she walks a razor's edge…
