A great read for when I'm shut in owing to plague, flood, and deep snow.
In fact, appended to the text is acknowledgment of Charles Dickens' The Holly-Tree Inn, the Christmas number of Dickens’s periodical Household Words, a collection of short stories by Dickens, Wilkie Collins, William Howitt, Adelaide Anne Procter and Harriet Parr.

The Holly-Tree Inn begins with a story by Dickens, The Guest in which a gentleman on his way to Liverpool is snowed in at the Holly-Tree Inn in Yorkshire. To keep himself entertained he reminisces about inns he has visited, giving glimpses into travel and inns in the 19th century. Having exhausted his own memories, this story ends with the idea of asking the inmates of the inn for their own stories.

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book transpires in the 1930s, and roamers/travelers are bound within the inn as heavy rains cause the Skidwrack River to rise, threatening flooding of the town of Nagspeake. Folklore tales, interludes, and revelations of strange secrets compose The Raconteur's Commonplace Book. Just the thing with a fire and hot chocolate, when circumstances prevent guests from in-person entertaining.