3 h 23 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 83 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 83 pagesAbout this book
What if the wealth you guard so fiercely leaves you with nothing but ghosts for company?
Ebenezer Scrooge loves his money and scorns Christmas. In his cold London office, his poorly paid clerk, Bob Cratchit, hopes for a decent Christmas dinner. Then Christmas Eve brings a visitor Scrooge cannot dismiss: Jacob Marley, his dead business partner, returns in chains with a warning about the cost of greed.
In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come confront Scrooge with more than fear. Memories and visions challenge the lonely life he guards. Around him, his nephew Fred keeps offering welcome, while Bob’s frail, cheerful son, Tiny Tim, brings joy to his family. What does Scrooge owe the people he shuts out?
What you’ll discover
- Ghosts with a purpose Meet spirits whose strange appearances bring uncomfortable truths into Scrooge’s carefully closed world.
- A city of contrasts Step into Victorian London, where Christmas cheer stands beside cold offices and poverty.
- Warmth beyond wealth Find kindness in Fred’s invitations, Bob’s good humor, and Tiny Tim’s cheerful presence.
- Humor among the shadows Enjoy a friendly storyteller who jokes with you even as the ghostly warnings gather.
- The question of change Consider whether a life built around hoarding money can make room for compassion.
Who will love it
For readers who love ghost stories with real feeling, humor and a social conscience, and anyone who knows Scrooge only from films.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Scrooge counts coins and scorns Christmas
- A dead partner arrives with a warning
- The Ghost of Christmas Past shows him himself
- The Ghost of Christmas Present opens his eyes
- What the story says about money and kindness
- How Dickens tells the tale
Who’s who
- Ebenezer ScroogeAn old London moneylender, cold, tight-fisted and alone, who scorns Christmas and wants only to be left to count his money.
- Jacob MarleyScrooge's dead business partner, who returns in chains to warn him that his greed will bring him the same fate.
- Bob CratchitScrooge's poorly paid clerk, a gentle, loyal father who keeps his good humor and hopes for a decent Christmas dinner.
- Tiny TimBob Cratchit's youngest child, a frail, cheerful boy who walks with a crutch and brings joy to his family.
- FredScrooge's good-natured nephew, who keeps inviting his uncle to Christmas dinner in spite of being refused every year.
- Ghost of Christmas PastA strange, glowing spirit who takes Scrooge back through his own memories to show him how he came to be so hard.
- Ghost of Christmas PresentA huge, cheerful spirit in a green robe who shows Scrooge how people around him are celebrating Christmas now.
- FezziwigThe warm-hearted merchant to whom young Scrooge was apprenticed, and who gives his workers a joyful Christmas Eve party.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 23 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 83 pages: 6,95 USD when you start free, 12,95 USD on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 83 pages: 13,95 USD when you start free, 19,95 USD on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens · 1843
Four visitors from beyond the grave confront Scrooge on Christmas Eve, with his life and love of wealth at stake.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A Christmas Carol is a short novel by Charles Dickens, first published in London in December 1843. Dickens wrote it quickly, in a year when he was worried about money and angry about the poverty he saw in English cities.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Scrooge counts coins and scorns Christmas
The story opens with a blunt fact. Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partner, has been dead for seven years. Scrooge still runs the firm of Scrooge and Marley from a gloomy counting house in London, and he has never bothered to change the sign. Dickens describes him as a tight, grasping, clutching old sinner, cold enough to chill his own office in the middle of winter.
It is Christmas Eve, and Scrooge keeps a tiny fire for his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who copies letters at a low desk. Scrooge keeps the coal box in his own room, and he threatens to dismiss Bob if he comes in to add more coal. Bob wraps his white scarf around his neck and tries to warm himself at the candle, with little success.
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What is A Christmas Carol about?
It tells of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly London businessman who hates Christmas. On Christmas Eve, his dead partner and three spirits visit him to show him his past, his present and a possible future.
Who are the three ghosts in A Christmas Carol?
They are the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Jacob Marley's ghost comes first, to warn Scrooge that the three spirits will follow.
When was A Christmas Carol written and is it a true story?
Dickens published it in December 1843. It is fiction, but it draws on real Victorian London, including child poverty, workhouses and the hard lives of clerks, which Dickens wanted his readers to notice.
The author
Charles Dickens
1812–1870 · English novelist
Charles Dickens was an English novelist born in Portsmouth in 1812. He lived in London and later at Gad’s Hill Place in Kent, where he died in 1870. His books include The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1849–1850), and Great Expectations (1860–1861).
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