Mr. Dickens and His Carol is an imaginative tale of Charles Dickens’ inspiration for A Christmas Carol, one of the most beloved stories about the meaning of Christmas. Similar to A Christmas Carol, this historical fiction novel also has themes of hope, love, generosity, and forgiveness. I found Mr. Dickens and His Carol to be the perfect book to read during the days leading up to Christmas.

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I read Mr. Dickens and His Carol as part of the 2023 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. December’s challenge was to read a book that takes place during Christmas or Hanukkah. It may surprise you that A Christmas Carol, published on December 19, 1843, took only six weeks to write and was a product of great financial pressure faced by Dickens. No wonder there are so many bah humbug-gy moments in the novella!

Before I provide my Mr. Dickens and His Carol summary, I want to make the point that this is a work of fiction. Elements of the story may or may not be true, although they’re all entertaining.

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As the novel begins, Dickens’ wife, Catherine, is just giving birth to their fifth child, one of ten Dickens would ultimately father. The renowned author is in a bit of a writing slump. After commercial success with novels such as The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby, his streak hit a snag with the publishing of Martin Chuzzlewit.

His publishers demanded that he write a Christmas book to be published before the holiday, which was only weeks away. In the midst of this pressure, Dickens also met up with a long-lost love. That, and the fact that her husband had become grumpy from writer’s block, made Catherine flee to Scotland with the kids for the holidays.

Left to his own devices, Dickens wanders the streets of London searching for inspiration. On one of his nightly walks, he meets a young woman named Eleanor and becomes strangely obsessed with her, even to the point of stalking her. Eleanor works at a nearby theater where Dickens used to take to the stage as an actor. He eventually learns that Eleanor has a sickly son named Timothy – the inspiration for Tiny Tim.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol is full of sources of inspiration for A Christmas Carol, including an eerie cemetery scene, characters with names like Ebenezer and Cratchett, and even a ghost. Dickens himself becomes increasingly Scrooge-like as he struggles to write the book and his obsession with Eleanor grows.

I found this aspect of the book very clever. People frequently ask fiction writers how they come up with the ideas for characters or settings, and the answer is often that they draw it from real life. It’s said that a fiction writer’s first novel is semi-autobiographical because they use so much material from their own experiences. It was interesting to see a plot centered on the inspiration for a well-known story using this theory, and it was very well done.

Dickens himself became a model for Scrooge. As his anger and frustration increased, he lashed out more and more at family and friends. But instead of turning away from Dickens, they showed grace and forgiveness, and Mr. Dickens and His Carol had a happy ending.

The one thing I found odd about the story was Dickens’ instant obsession with Eleanor. But after doing some research, I learned that Dickens abandoned the wife that gave him ten children after 22 years of marriage so that he could pursue a young actress named Ellen. (To that I say, “Bah humbug, Mr. Dickens!”) Maybe this was the author’s way of pointing out this flaw.

About the narration, Mr. Dickens and His Carol is expertly performed by Euan Morton, who has a delightful English accent and a tone of voice you would expect for a Victorian tale. He even produced believable women’s voices.

Overall, I found Mr. Dickens and His Carol clever and enjoyable. Glad I discovered it!

If you read a book set during Christmas or Hanukkah this month, please tell us about it in the comments section!

**Reminder: January kicks off a new year of discovery with the 2024 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. The first challenge is to read a book that has been adapted to the screen.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous new year!