At first I was enraptured by the author’s prose, so reminiscent of Charles Dickens, but soon tired of his effusive, descriptive narration. I understand Scrooge needed to go through sorrow for his loss, but the self doubt, guilt, and talk of the dire state of London dragged on way too long and could have been told in half the amount of time for my tastes. It may be because my life is extremely busy now so I was impatient, but the story picked up again after the visitation of more spirits and I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the book. Without giving away too much, I loved the ending, both as a heartwarming Christmas read and a moralistic oration on the human condition, and it made wading through the beginning worth it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.