MR. DICKENS and HIS CAROL by Samantha Silva is a great fictional take on how the plotline for A Christmas Carol developed and all Dickens's inspirations for the story. The author captured Dickens in the way he interacted with his world and the descriptive word choices she chose herself in the novel without burying the reader in background. The book is descriptive, the characters easy to visualize, and the interactions very believable. This book was a definite winner in my book. It has humor, suspense, drama, and a twist that doesn't seem contrived at all but is very unexpected. I read it in one day and would have no issues recommending it to others that enjoy A Christmas Carol. I have to admit something. One of my favorite things about the holidays is re-reading A Christmas Carol and watching as many movie adaptations on it as I can so that is why this novel stood out to me as a must read. I was not disappointed and I don't think you will be either. Loved it!

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must be the only one who's read this book so far (having read some other reviews of it) who really wasn't charmed by it.

This is a fictionalized story about how Charles Dickens came to write A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Things are not going well for Dickens as the year 1843 comes to a close. His novel MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT has not been well received, especially in the United States, since Dickens lampooned some of the "characters" he met on his American tours in the book. His publishers are asking for a Christmas book, but he has not one idea in his head about what to write. The family's extravagant spending has caught up with them; he still fears ending up in debtors' prison as his father did, and his improvident father is still charging his own expenses to his son's account, so the author begins lashing out at every expenditure made, even though weeks earlier he would have approved of them. And then Dickens compounds his problem by meeting up briefly with an old flame; when his wife hears about it, she packs up the children, Dickens' annual partners in the family's wonderful Christmas festivities, and leaves for Scotland.

A sober Dickens moves back to his old digs where he wrote THE PICKWICK PAPERS, and amazingly, finds a muse: a beautiful woman in a purple cloak who works at the theater where his friend performs. As he tries to track her down, he encounters situations that will later make its way into his writing—but can he write his Christmas book to pay his bills, and somehow make amends to wife Catherine in the meantime?

Author Silva actually apologizes in the afterward for creating a fictional situation around Dickens' writing of the book, saying that she loved Dickens so much she wanted to create an adventure around him. Honestly, I have to admire a lot of this novel. I love the way she uses Victorian language to describe situations: Dickens' hyperactive household, the streets of London, the warrens of the poorest areas, the world of the theater. She also works into the story Dickens' habit of remembering unusual names and incorporating them into his tales. It's just that I figured out the secret behind Dickens' muse almost immediately and then became irritated as he tried endlessly to make contact with her. And then he writes another book before he even tackles the Carol? In the end it seemed overwrought and endless.

I found myself drawn into the story with a feeling reminiscent of those cold, wintry nights when I would pull out my battered copy of The Christmas Carol in order to become enthralled once again with this timeless classic. Somehow Silva captured some of the Dickens magic by making you feel as if she’s sitting in front of you telling a story just for you alone; from one friend to another. She knows what you need to hear, how the characters should sound and act, what the settings should look and feel like to capture your attention and suddenly bring this world to life before your eyes.

It is as if we’re getting a peek into a sacred secret, the birth of how The Christmas Carol came to be, so it is no surprise the story literally opens with the birth of Dickens’ child foreshadowing another yet to come. By the end you feel as if you know the ‘boy who loved Christmas, with all his heart’ just as well as you know yourself. You feel committed to his story just as if your own sweat, blood and tears had poured from the quill onto the page.

My little Christmas tradition of reading the story that begins with Jacob Marley being dead as a door nail will take on new life after this; feel more special and intimate in some ways thanks to Silva. Particularly towards the end as she begins to incorporate pieces of A Christmas Carol into Dickens thoughts and actions you can’t help but feel your own level of excitement grow with each passing sentence.

When you get to that surprising little twist towards the end I dare you to not shed a tear at the beauty of the moment and allow yourself to be carried away as Dickens reads his tale to fulfill a promise of a Christmas gift.

I would highly encourage you to seek this book out and add it to your holiday list of things to do so you will hopefully find the same sense of wonder and charm that I did. With her vivacious characters, easy to follow plot, steady pace and adorable story it’s hard not to fall in a little bit in love with Dickens all over again.

I’m a big fan of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, so when I saw an advertisement for this book I was quick to request it. The book started out a bit slow for me, but it picked up in the last half. I did love the way the author weaves together fact and fiction. The story tells how A Christmas Carol was written. Dickens’ latest book wasn’t a big success and his publisher tells him in order to not face financial ruin, he must write a Christmas story in just a few weeks. What follows is a crisis, his family leaving, and an epiphany with some magic thrown in. This book evoked a feeling of warmth in me just in time for some holiday shopping and decorating and was a great rendition of a favorite Christmas story. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Considering how much I enjoy Charles Dickens, I was surprised by how little I knew about him. I've read over a handful of his novels, enjoying every single one, yet I had never researched his personal life. Until now. When I saw the cover for Mr. Dickens and His Carol, and read its description, I knew I had to read it. It did not disappoint. It was perfectly enjoyable. It is well researched, well written, and simply fun, while also being poignant, as one would expect. I believe it to be the perfect read this Christmas season.

This was utterly charming, despite all the liberties Silva took with Dickens's life and family. I thought it too closely mirrored A Christmas Carol at times, but that was part its charm and warmth as well.

I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Incredibly well written reimagined story detailing the process behind the writing of "A Christmas Carol." I really enjoyed meeting some of the real characters in Dickens' life. Although it was a fictionalized story, the author did a good job including the people and some of the circumstances in his life. For me, the semi-accurate parts were much more interesting than the more fanciful parts, and I did get annoyed with Charles' wandering eye.

All in all, a fun book to go along with my yearly rereading of the original.

Delightful and well written. While this is a work of fiction, I found it totally believable. The author did an amazing job of weaving her own story while staying true to Dickens himself. A Christmas Carol has always been one of my favorite books and this book was just as wonderful.

Is it too early for silver bells and tinsel? Maybe, but I did see the other day that Hallmark Channel is set to start airing it's 24 hour Christmas movie lineup next week, and it will run until Christmas, or maybe even the New Year. So, I'm obviously not the only person with Christmas on the brain! Recently, I received an email advertising some new books that were coming out for Christmas. I was immediately drawn to Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva. I've never read anything by this author before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This book turned out to be great. I love Charles Dickens, so seeing some of the inspiration behind one of this most famous stories is intriguing. Disclaimer: Ms. Silva fully admits that this is a work of fiction, and is not biographical. While it's based on a true story, it is not an actual account. This didn't bother me, but if you're a stickler for historical detail, you might want to skip it. I think it's written in a way that Charles Dickens himself would have approved of. It's an interesting, captivating story, but it doesn't take itself too seriously.

It's just before Christmas and Charles Dickens is in financial trouble. His wife is planning a lavish Christmas party, as well as having the house repainted for the occasion. His children have extravagant wish lists. His father and brother are both asking for loans, and other extended family members use his name to incur debt, which he then pays off. But, it's all good (as they say) because Dickens has just finished a new installment of his latest book, Chuzzlewit. A visit from his publishers convinces him that it is not all good. Chuzzlewit has lost popularity, and is losing money. So, his publishers are demanding a Christmas book. At first, Dickens balks. He decides instead to cut back on the merriment of the season. He soon realizes that isn't possible, so he determines to write the book. It isn't as straight-forward as just writing, though. His attitude and actions drive his family away, and he's left alone, weeks before Christmas, with no ideas for a book. It seems his career is over, until he finds a mysterious muse, that may just steer him in the way he needs to go.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol has many references to A Christmas Carol, as you would expect. But I loved that there were subtle hints about other Dickens' works, as well, including Bleak House and David Copperfiled. This is a really great story! It's a great imagination of what it might have been like as Charles Dickens wrote one of the most popular Christmas stories of all time. It was such a different time that he lived in. With no copyright laws, his work was constantly plagiarized, and he was sued for copying his characters after real people. While he freely admitted to this, can you imagine being the inspiration for one of his more unsavory characters--and having the world know it? Dickens also had literary disagreements with other popular writers of his day. When he went out, he was nearly always recognized, and people weren't shy about asking for is autograph, if they loved his works, or berating him if they did not. His wife had just given birth to yet another child, and was a weepy version of herself. Add to this visits from both his father and his brother asking for loans, and his publishers with bad news about his most recent book, and you can imagine his mental state that Christmas season. Is it any wonder the thought up a story filled with sadness, greed and ghosts?

As the reader follows Mr. Dickens along the journey to writing his epic Christmas tale, you can see his own transformation from "bah humbug," to "God bless us, everyone." While this story is fictional, it is very inspirational and thought-provoking. It's easy to see how the events of Charles' life could have led him to write such an unusual story. In this novel the first draft of A Christmas Carol was called A Christmas Present (I think) and it barely resembled the classic story we all know and love. I can't help but wonder if that part of the story is true.

This story is so well-written, that I was worried Charles Dickens would not finish his Christmas story in time, would be destroyed financially, and would run away to India and never write again! (Spoiler alert: none of that happened.) Charles Dickens' characters in his novels are very distinctive in their actions and appearances. The characters in Ms. Silva's tale were very Dickens-like, and I really enjoyed reading how he found inspiration among those he met every day. There are moments in this book that make you really sad, but there are a few where I found myself giggling a little--when two ladies pull of his wig and take a sample for themselves for instance.

I can't think of any fictional Christmas story that I like better than A Christmas Carol. (I admit, my favorite version of it is the one from the Muppets. I can't help it!) Mr. Dickens and His Carol is a great read for lovers of this classic, but if you don't like A Christmas Carol (or are one of the ten people in the modern world who have never read or seen it), I think you'll still like this one. It's certainly an unusual Christmas story, but it will leave you with a smile, and a warm place in your heart! I will definitely be recommending this on my Christmas reads list this year!



I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own and a favorable review was not required. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of my links, I will make a small commission, but you won't pay anything extra!

A big thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This is truly a shining star in the midst of the holiday offerings for this season. Dickens has enjoyed rock star status in the literary world, but his star is waning as Martin Chuzzlewit bombs in the bookstores. His family wants a better Christmas than last year, he has a new son to love and care for, his wife is planning an expensive holiday party, his father wants money, his cousin Fred wants Dickens to back his latest harebrained scheme and the publishers are strongarming him for a new book by Christmas. Threatening even to begin to deduct from his pay, they hand him a pen and give him a deadline. Charles gets more and more like his Ebenezer Scrooge as the deadline grow closer. His family leaves town to give him time to himself and he still struggles. Until he meets his muse.

As we read this creative fictional version of the story behind one of the most beloved books of all time, we see bits and pieces of the classic tale coming to mind. The book itself; however, is a long time coming and not without much wringing of hands and walking about London. The beautiful ending is perfectly done and contains thread of "It's a Wonderful Life" as the masses are drawn together in the peace and love of the season. God bless us. Everyone. Amen.

This is a novel deeply steeped in Dickens’s lore and Victorian London, but probably not for the purists. That being said, I really enjoyed this bounce through the life of the creator of “A Christmas Carol.” I wish I had read it closer to Christmas—though I’ll likely give it a re-read. I loved the characters who inspired him, the origins of the names, Dickens’s fictional “process.”

I loved the gang of urchins following him and their motives, and the return to his roots, as it were, when he moves into the Boz museum that is actually the room he and his wife had first lived in at the start of his career, and their marriage, to cure his writer’s block.

The author does an excellent job—you can feel his panic when his audience begins to turn away from him, how the love for his family begins to strangle him creatively. Sounds depressing, but it’s not—the prose is a joy, and this is a genuinely heartwarming story.

First line: On that unseasonably warm November day at One Devonshire Terrace, Christmas was not in his head at all.

Summary: Charles Dickens had instant success with his first books but his most recent one was a flop. When the publishing firm begins to lose money, they devise an ultimatum. Write a Christmas story or pay back the advance. With less than six weeks left between the notification and Christmas Eve, Dickens has very little time to figure out his biggest success, A Christmas Carol.

Highlights: This was a very cozy little novel about one of my favorite stories. I have watched many adaptations of Dickens’ novel with my favorites being The Muppet Christmas Carol and Scrooge (with Albert Finney). The fact that this story was written in such a short period is shocking. I liked the Easter eggs in the story that tie in with A Christmas Carol. While reading I wanted it to be Christmas time and have a cup of tea. Very good debut novel!

Lowlights: There was a lot of buildup but not enough bang at the end. It was cozy and not as gripping as I hoped.

FYI: Spoilers! I have not read all of Dickens work but now I know how some of them end. Its okay. I guess after 150+ years everyone should know the stories and their endings.

I didn't care for the writing style; I didn't finish this.

4 stars

This is a completely delightful novel. It is an imaginary journey into the life and times of Charles Dickens. The author imagines a “what if” scenario where Dickens is in trouble financially and personally when his latest book doesn’t at all sell well. It is just before Christmas and with a wife with expensive taste, six children, numerous charities and other hangers-on all with their hands out, Charles bad sales figures put him in a tight place with money. Mr. Dickens is portrayed as a likeable man who loves his family. He has a playful manner and sounds like a very interesting character.

His publishers come to him and give him just four weeks to turn around his slumping sales figures, or they will drop him and call in their advances. Charles sinks into a depression and wanders the streets of London trying to work out an idea for his Christmas story. What he produces is, of course, the internationally famous “A Christmas Story.”

This book is very well written and plotted – and wonderfully imagined. Mr. Dickens is portrayed as a congenial fellow who is easy to like and to get to know. I truly enjoyed the journey. This is my first Samantha Silva novel, and I immediately went to Amazon to look at her other books. What a wonderful way to imagine just how Dickens’ “A Christmas Story” came about.

I want to thank NetGalley and flatiron Books for forwarding to me a copy of this delightful book to read and enjoy.

Most of us know who Charles Dickens is, the famous 19th century British novelist who brought us Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and of course, the most cold-hearted miser of all time, Ebenezer Scrooge. In Samantha Silva's debut novel, she imagines how a Christmas Carol was born. It is an inventive, fluffy tale of Victorian England with all the lovely description of the streets that Dickens inhabited and where he found all his characters. We see his family life, his frustrations with fame and the hangers-on who want his money, and his utter disbelief as his previous novel fails miserably and he is strapped for cash. This is a charming little tale that will satisfy the Christmas spirit as well as give one some intriguing insight into one of our most prolific English authors.

Delightful! I loved the vivid descriptions and phrases used in Mr. Dickens and his Carol. A new spin on a classic and well loved story. I couldn't put it down. I had to keep reading and learning more about the origin of everyone's favorite Christmas story.

This book started slow and a bit difficult (as in underwhelming) for me, but being, as I am, a sucker for all things at all Christmas-adjacent, I pushed through, and I'm glad I did, because Mr Dickens and His Carol ended up being quite a charming little novel. This fictionalized account of the days leading up to the creation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol shows the author buckling under the financial pressures of a spendthrift wife, a rowdy house of young children eager for Christmas gifts, ne'er-do-well family members who constantly ask for money, obligations to various charities, and, perhaps most upsetting of all, publishers who are demanding a Christmas tale to make up for lackluster sales of his most recent book.

Behaving quite the brute, Dickens drives his wife and children away before fleeing to a part of the city he hasn't inhabited since he was a struggling young author. While there, he meets a beautiful young woman who steals his heart in the way that only instant infatuation allows for, and slowly comes to learn the true meaning of Christmas--that is, after becoming more and more Scrooge-like by turns.

Yes, that makes the book sound awfully cheesy, and it is--but in a fun way that never ceases to amuse those familiar with A Christmas Carol. Clever--and occasionally less than clever--references to characters and scenarios from the novel abound, and it's clear that Silva has a real appreciation for Dickens' work and that she did her due diligence in writing this book.

A fun alternate history of one of the most beloved Christmas stories in the English language, this book is a light, enjoyable read, and a solid 3.5 stars.

A charming, lovely telling of Dicken's creation of "A Christmas Carol". Dicken's and his family are wonderful as are all the other characters. Even though this story is fiction it is still a great read.