The Belle of Sleepy Hollow contains nine tales, each tied to a classic American short story. The new stories are implicit critiques and interpretations of the old ones, but they are also tributes to some of the most beloved works in American literature. Referencing the same characters, settings, and events, these tales are situated within a time gap left by the original, or placed before or after the known story, or told from a different point of view. Each new story is a self-contained and artful work of fiction inspired by its source but offering a fresh perspective on the fictional world immortalized in the prior work. The style evokes, rather than imitates, the voice of the original. Beautifully illustrated with scenes from the stories, the collection pulls the reader back into the iconic story-worlds of authors as diverse as Poe and Chesnutt or Hawthorne and Chopin.