Cratchit: A Christmas Carol Continues

by R.M. Bouknight

13 Christmases ago, the Spirits came to save a man.
Now they’ve returned… to save a family.

The Cratchits are no longer poor, but their struggles are far from over.

Bob is blinded by ambition, seduced by worldly temptations.
His wife is unwilling to suffer in silence any longer.
His grown children each face trials of love, honor, and betrayal.

This isn’t a retelling of the story. It’s a new chapter—
a moving, richly imagined sequel to A Christmas Carol,
filled with warmth, humor, hope, and the magic of the season.

At its heart is a family bound by love… yet haunted by secrets.

This special Kindle edition includes not only the uplifting sequel, but also the beloved holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, in its entirety.

As an added bonus, this edition features full-color artwork created exclusively for A Christmas Carol Continues.

If you were moved by the original story, then add this touching holiday drama to your must-read list.

Let the Spirits move you… again.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christmas

152 pages, Paperback

Published August 18, 2025

About the author

R.M. Bouknight is an Emmy-nominated writer whose work spans television, radio, and print.

In New York and Los Angeles, he has led creative teams and served as a producer, creative director and senior executive at Showtime, Fox, ABC, and UPN.

He founded Darn Good Entertainment, a marketing and advertising company whose clients included CBS, Disney, Warner Bros., and Paramount.

Drawing on decades of crafting stories for major media companies, he brings a sharp narrative sense and cinematic flair to his fiction writing.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very quick read and interesting idea! But felt pretty lacking in the execution 😬 Also, it was a lot darker than I expected it to be (trigger warning for: self harm, PTSD, substance abuse in various forms, and attempted suicide). It honestly reminded me of something I might've written in high school, and I mean that in the cringiest way possible 🫥 Not fully fleshed out, kind of immature, and intentionally shocking.

[Stephanie Mccall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story hands down (unless we're counting the actual birth of Jesus, so it's a tie). Over the years, I've become kind of an armchair expert on it, even writing school essays on cinematography of certain adaptations or writing articles on the story for work. But, I never get tired of the story itself or versions of it. So when I found Cratchit, I knew I had to read it. R.M. Bouknight did not disappoint.

First off, I love the way Cratchit is portrayed here. In the original, he's a hardworking, beleaguered but dedicated family man, Scrooge's antithesis. So here, it would be easy to make him a "junior Scrooge" or more accurately for the story itself, a completely selfish and irresponsible hedonist. This Cratchit is neither. He's made some horrible choices and committed some deep personal sins. Arguably worse, he's made mistakes that snowballed. But unlike Scrooge, Cratchit does maintain a level of remorse and teachability almost from the beginning.

Additionally, Cratchit is naive, but his earnestness coupled with naivete keeps him from being a stupid character of whom readers despair. Instead, we root for him to turn his life around because we know exactly how capable he is, how much love he still has to give, and how much he is still loved. His desire to be a Knight Paragon comes across not as a man giving in to the adult version of "peer pressure," but a man still haunted and dogged by some old "Christmas ghosts" that didn't vanish for him, just because Scrooge changed.

Speaking of Scrooge, he's beautifully written in A Christmas Carol Continues. The relationship between him and Cratchit is one of the high points of the book. Yes, the contrast of Cratchit's bitterness and Scrooge's forgiveness--the role reversal--have something to do with that. More though, it's the interplay between them at different times, the length of their partnership, and the layered tension contained in said partnership. I'm amazed R.M. got all this into 145 pages and I love that it's there.

I also loved the depth of Cratchit's journey with the Spirits, and how his journey both mirrors and contrasts Scrooge's. I'm not going to get into any of it here for fear of spoilers, but I can say Past, Present, and Yet to Come show up in their old familiar forms and familiar glory. But they show much different personalities here, and their purposes aren't exactly the same as with Scrooge. The journey, then, embodies the difference between changing the heart of a cold man who's forgotten how to show compassion, vs. changing the heart of a man who remembers those things, who didn't mean to fall into avarice, but now mistakes provision for love.

The secondary characters in this novel are wonderful, and truly, none of them can be called secondary. Again, it's amazing that this happens in such a short book, but everyone gets the page time they need to feel like a real person and go through a character arc. Tim, of course, is a major example, and I appreciate how his character is developed the most. Belinda, too, gets a romantic arc, but also a personal character arc whose depth surprised me in the best way. Even people with only a few lines, like Thomas, Martha, and Abigail, highlight how the story wouldn't be the same without them.

Finally, the plot of A Christmas Carol Continues is comforting in its rhythm and execution. The tone is completely faithful to Dickens, while still maintaining modernity. There aren't many surprises; after all, we know this story (and boy, do I *know* this story, which I mean in the best sense). But there is one big twist that had me applauding and cheering the author's creativity. As for the rest of the story, it's just new enough, just surprising enough, to make you want to read it in one sitting.

I do feel it's my responsibility to point out, this novella deals with a couple of very sensitive topics, even if in brief. Thus, be aware if you or someone you love is going through something similar. With that note though, this was a lovely continuation of A Christmas Carol. I'd also recommend Mr. Dickens and His Carol if you want more like it.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome story.loved the 3 ghosted and what a great ending. I loved every minute of the book.

[Vicky D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely plotted out

[Lisa Carp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Christmas Carol is my all time favorite Christmas story. And this one may have surpassed that. It is so sad to think Bob Cratchit could have lost his way, and even worse, back stabbed Scrooge. The betrayal is unbelievable. But the redemption in this story, is remarkable. I also loved going through the lives of the grown Cratchit children. This was a masterpiece, and I hope it becomes a movie.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book: Cratchit: "A Christmas Carol" Continues
Author: R. M. Bouknight
Stars: 4.5⭐

My Review: A delightful "what if" sequel to Charles Dickens original A Christmas Carol. A worthy addition to sit alongside your copy of A Christmas Carol upon your bookshelf.

@prompt
152 pages
Release date: 10 August 2025
Religious Fiction Classics • Classic Historical Fiction
4.24 * on GoodReads

[Wayne Pickrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely sequel to A Christmas Carol.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. A fitting homage by R.M. Bouknight to a Dickens classic. Kept in the true spirit of Dickens' Christmas message when writing A Christmas Carol. To highlight through a work of fiction, the need to never allow greed to overshadow love, compassion, and family.
A worthy addition to sit alongside your copy of A Christmas Carol upon your bookshelf.

[Dave Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished on Christmas Eve
Great idea, imagining an aged Cratchit needing to learn his own Marley type lessons. It’s what you might expect from an updated version of a Christmas Carol told using modern language and lens. Might have worked even better had they played this story generations later in order to fit that language and lens.

The bits of dark humour are a departure from the original, for better or worse, and it gets surprisingly dark at points, but i was satisfied and it fit the seasonal fare very well. The version I read also came with Dickens Christmas Carol as well

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. It follows many of the tropes from Dickens with slight twists. There are anachronisms of psychological maladies that were unknown of at this time period. It is a work of fiction in 2025 so I can forgive.
My print edition also contains the original by Dickens which is nice if you want to compare the two.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this sequel to A Christmas Carol, although I had a hard time with what they did with Bob Cratchit’s for the first half of the book. I liked getting to know Bob’s other children, especially Peter – a war veteran and Belinda – we had to make it very difficult choice. I would recommend this book to my friends and family.

[MaryAnne Bolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author did do a good job of enhancing the characters' development beyond the original book and explained well how they all got into their current situations. It is a fast paced book with an enjoyable ending.

[LesleyjR · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good albeit darker sequel to the original Christmas Carol, where greed is at the forefront again. Well written and gripping story, one I’ll will definitely be reading again. It was a nice bonus to have the original story in my kindle edition.

[Linda Berger]

Cratchit

I enjoyed this continuation of the original Dickens story. I also enjoyed this adaption of the original in the
second book. A fast read for this time of the season. Enjoy!

[Carol Terracciano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nice tribute to the original tale. A quick read that reminds us of what is truly important. A good way to get into the holiday spirit.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed it!!

[Gary Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll make this review brief. Ugh.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Then life happened

A great tale of life taking over those left when Scrooge passed. All to easy to just let life happen.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

yawn