-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:From the acclaimed author of the "marvel of a novel" (Entertainment Weekly) Finn comes a masterful reimagining of Charles Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol with this darkly entertaining and moving exploration of the twisted relationship between Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.
Marley was dead, to begin with," Charles Dickens tells us at the beginning of A Christmas Carol. But in Jon Clinch's ingenious novel, Jacob Marley, business partner to Ebenezer Scrooge, is very much alive: a rapacious and cunning boy who grows up to be a forger, a scoundrel, and the man who will be both the making and the undoing of Scrooge.
They meet as youths in the gloomy confines of Professor Drabb's Academy for Boys, where Marley begins their twisted friendship by initiating the innocent Scrooge into the gentle art of extortion. Years later, in the dank heart of London, their shared ambition manifests itself in a fledgling shipping empire. Between Marley's genius for deception and Scrooge's brilliance with numbers, they amass a considerable fortune of dubious legality, all rooted in a pitiless commitment to the soon-to-be-outlawed slave trade.
As Marley toys with the affections of Scrooge's sister, Fan, Scrooge falls under the spell of Fan's best friend, Belle Fairchild. Now, for the first time, Scrooge and Marley find themselves at cross-purposes. With their business interests inextricably bound together and instincts for secrecy and greed bred in their very bones, the two men engage in a shadowy war of deception, false identities, forged documents, theft, and cold-blooded murder. Marley and Scrooge are destined to clash in an unforgettable reckoning that will echo into the future and set the stage for Marley's ghostly return.
Meticulously crafted and beguilingly told, Marley revisits and illuminates one of Charles Dickens's most cherished works to spellbinding effect.
Clinch expertly cultivates Marley's character, elaborating the origins of one of English literature's most famous misers with forensic precision. Like the best of Dickens, Marley works well as populist entertainment and layered social commentary...continued
Full Review
(745 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Mark Anthony Ayling).
A Christmas Carol, the first and best known of Charles Dickens' five Christmas Books, was published on December 19th, 1843. On publication, it was considered a critical and commercial success and served to bolster Dickens' reputation among his peers and the public at a time of creative and financial uncertainty.
The book drew on the Victorians' renewed interest in the Christmas holiday and their burgeoning interest in the ghost story, a genre that exploded into English cultural consciousness during the Victorian Era, experiencing widespread popularity in both short and long form. This rise in interest would continue into the early 20th century with prolific horror authors like M.R. James flying the flag.
Dickens, like many of his ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Marley, try these:
by Barbara Kingsolver
Published 2024
From the New York Times bestselling author of Unsheltered and Flight Behavior, a brilliant novel which enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity.
by Madeline Miller
Published 2020
Winner of the 2018 BookBrowse Fiction Award
The daring, dazzling and highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Song of Achilles.
.gif)
Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Charles Frazier, New York Times bestselling author of Cold Mountain and Varina
It's one thing to come up with a brilliant premise, but it's another thing to know what to do with it, how to realize its potential. As he did with Finn, Jon Clinch digs down to the bones of a classic and creates must-read modern literature.
