Jacob T. Marley

(Ama­zon, Goodreads)

by R. William Bennett

(Ama­zon, Goodreads, Web­site)

Pub­lished by Shadow Moun­tain, Octo­ber 2011

Mar­ley was dead to begin with … These chill­ingly famil­iar words begin the clas­sic Christ­mas tale of remorse and redemp­tion in A Christ­mas Carol by Charles Dick­ens. Now R. William Ben­nett rewinds the story and focuses the spot­light on Scrooge s miserly busi­ness part­ner, Jacob T. Mar­ley, who was allowed to return as a ghost to warn Scrooge away from his ill-​​fated path. Why was Mar­ley allowed to return? And why hadn t he been given the same chance as Ebenezer Scrooge? Or had he? Writ­ten with a voice rem­i­nis­cent of Dick­ens, Jacob T. Mar­ley is to A Christ­mas Carol as the world-​​famous Wicked is to The Wiz­ard of Oz as this mas­ter­fully crafted story teaches of choices, con­se­quences, and of the power of account­abil­ity. It is sure to become a Christ­mas favorite.

Who would’ve thought there was so much to tell about such a small char­ac­ter in Dick­ens’ A Christ­mas Carol?  I cer­tainly expected this to be a retelling of the well-​​known story, but I was pleas­antly sur­prised.  Full of charm and beau­ti­ful writ­ing, Ben­nett pulls together a story that fits so per­fectly into the orig­i­nal tale that you could almost see it as side notes for Dick­ens’ tale.  Not only do we get a glimpse into who the man Mar­ley was and how he got that way, but we also see how he influ­enced Scrooge and helped to mold him into the man he became.

As the story unfolds, we are intro­duced to another side of some of literature’s most well-​​known char­ac­ters and yet, it doesn’t read like a sim­ple re-​​telling of Dick­ens’ clas­sic tale of redemp­tion.  Mar­ley plays such a piv­otal role in the final out­come of Scrooge’s night with the spir­its and he becomes a new man in our eyes just as Scrooge does in A Christ­mas Carol.

As the hol­i­day sea­son approaches, I hope that you pick this up and add this won­der­ful tale to your yule­tide tra­di­tions.  And per­haps even as a sim­ple bed­time story to share with your chil­dren as I know A Christ­mas Carol in book form can be quite daunting.