Jacob T. Marley : A Review

It was twenty years ago that I last read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in its entirity. At that time I thought it might be fun to rewrite the story as a case study in Recovery. I did not do it However, R. William Bennett’s Jacob T. Marley has created a wonderful rewrite of Dickens’ classic story.

Dickens tells us the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bennett tells us the story of Jacob T. Marley. It is a touching story - with bits of horror and of grace. I would not call it a “tear jerker”; but as I read, I did find tears coming to my eyes. Marley had to carry the chains of his greed as he revisited his past decisions - and saw the consequences of all that preceded his own death.

As the author creatively interweaves the lives of the Marley and Scrooge families, we not only see the great sadness created by their decisions, but we see the grace which each man was capable of showing, given the chance.

This review was based on an electronic copy

of the book provided by the publisher

for the purpose of creating this review.