"The Innkeeper's Wife" is a 1958
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
story, written by
A. J. Cronin
Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981), known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achievi ...
for ''
The American Weekly''. The story is about the wife of the innkeeper in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
who had no room for
Mary and
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
to spend the night. It originally appeared in the December 21 issue before being printed in book form by
Hearst Publishing and is accompanied by
Ben Stahl's illustrations.
Characters:
* The Innkeeper
* His wife
* Mary & Joseph
* Gabriel
* Shepherds
* Angels
* Stars
* Sheep
* Cows
* The Kings
* Pages of the Kings
* Travellers
* Criers
1958 short stories
1958 books
British short stories
Short stories by A. J. Cronin
Books by A. J. Cronin
Christmas short stories
Works originally published in The American Weekly
{{1950s-story-stub