A Midnight Carol
A Novel of How Charles Dickens Saved Christmas
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A novel based on the true story of the struggle Charles Dickens faced during the winter of 1843 while writing his now-classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol
1843, London. Though the approaching Christmas looks bleak at the home of the Dickens family, Charles and his pregnant wife Catherine try to maintain a good cheer for their four young children. Debts are mounting, food is scarce, and Charles' books—according to his miserly publisher—are no longer selling.
Then Charles has an idea, which comes to him in the ghostly form of Oliver Cromwell, the long-dead, spirit-crushing, Lord Protector of England. A Christmas Carol will be Dickens' most brilliant work yet, both for its mass appeal and underlying political message. But many sinister forces oppose the success of this literary gem; and it is only through faith, kindness and the innate goodness of mankind that A Christmas Carol will become a timeless classic—and that the young writer Charles Dickens will truly save Christmas for all of England...
Find the true story in A Midnight Carol by Patricia K. Davis, sure to become a brand new Christmas classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1843, Charles Dickens has a pregnant wife and a wastrel father, and his most recent book, the ill-received Martin Chuzzlewit, has left the London writer with dwindling funds and few ideas. Meanwhile, Dickens's friend and supporter Thomas Carlyle obtains for him a chance to speak before Parliament to address the terrible conditions of London's multitude of impoverished workers. A well-educated but penniless lad, Benjamin Newborn, hears his beloved author's impassioned speech, and will figure prominently in Dickens's financial and literary future. But for now the hero puzzles over how to save his family from creditors. Inspired by a desire to make Christmas the joyous occasion it had been in the Merrie England of old, Dickens dreams up a tale that makes his political and social points as well. He approaches his publishers, Squibb and Ledrock, with a risky and brash proposal--he'll own the book, and pay all the bills, but it must be published before December 17 so that it can sell for Christmas. The greedy publishers, tired of carrying Dickens, embark on a brilliantly underhanded plot to steal ownership of the book, which they know to be a masterpiece. Newborn, the prime minister and a host of bobbies all have a hand in saving Dickens from ruin. This first novel is assured, sprightly and well-conceived, aptly depicting the conditions under which different social classes lived in 19th-century England, and vividly portraying the personality of the mercurial and headstrong Dickens. Though we're told that it's based on a true story, readers won't know exactly what is fictionalized and what is historical in this tale; however, the plot, setting and characterizations all make it a stocking-stuffer par excellence .
