Willa Cather 
The Burglar’s Christmas 

In Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas”, a young drifter finds himself alone on Christmas Eve, penniless and starving. Though he has failed at everything in life, including crime, he decides to break into a home and rob it to raise money for food. When he is caught in the act by the lady of the house, they both come to a terrible realization. The burglar’s desperate act leads to a transformative act of holiday love and charity. First published in Home Monthly in 1896.

Über den Autor

Willa Siebert Cather (1873-1947) was an American author and Pulitzer Prize winner. She was noted for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I.