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Ebenezer: The Final Years of Scrooge
Seventeen years ago, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by three spirits in the middle of the night, each with the same to see the old miser redeemed. Through a painstaking journey through the past, present and future, Ebenezer faced the terrifying truths of his existence, to wake up the next morning a new man, putting aside his love of money, and embracing instead, the love of mankind and charity. But what happens when people from all over London witness this change and hear that the motivation behind it was ghostly visitations? Whatever becomes of Tiny Tim? New mysteries unfold when Ebenezer must face the challenges of being daily rejected as a lunatic or revered as a spiritual leader. Tiny Tim -- not so tiny anymore -- fears he is being watched by someone or something, and a familiar looking young boy wanders into Mr. Scrooge's office...
266 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 14, 2018
Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL is one of the greatest stories ever written and an ideal read for any time of year. It is a personal favorite of mine and, as an actor, I've done my part to honor the work by portraying Ebenezer Scrooge for 10 years on stage in an annual Holiday production.
As such a big fan of this work I go out of my way to both read and watch any version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL or a work that was inspired by it. I began this Holiday season by starting with EBENEZER: THE FINAL YEARS OF SCROOGE by author Donna Lee Howell.
Howell obviously knows her source material as her story is infused with many of the primary and secondary characters from the original tale. It is always interesting to see how creative authors who love Dickens' work interpret what a sequel or follow-up text would look like. In EBENEZER, the action is 16 years following the action of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
One point that Howell hits on which I found particularly poignant was how the majority of the local citizens treat Ebenezer Scrooge and his purported tale of Christmas visitations by Ghostly Spirits as the ranting of a madman. Many have grown to love Scrooge for the outward changes in his persona while others point and laugh at him as a figure worthy of ridicule.
Scrooge's changes have also impacted those around him. He is extremely close now with his nephew, Fred, and his new niece and nephew. His help with the Cratchet family has allowed Bob to follow his pursuit of medicine and he is now a physician. Additionally, Tiny Tim --- now a young man --- sees Scrooge as a second father and works alongside him in his business.
This time, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost Of Christmas That Never Was --- a Spirit in the form of a young boy named Jack who shows Scrooge alternate versions of Past, Present and Future and what outcomes may have been derived from each. The focus becomes Tim Cratchet who, even though he is happily married and a new father, still suffers from various ailments and for some reason has lost the will to live. Scrooge urgest the powers of whatever Spirits may still be watching over him to intervene on Tim's behalf and spare him --- offering Scrooge's own life in replacement.
EBENEZER is a novel worth catching this holiday season, especially for those who love the original, as it will allow you to spend more time with beloved characters that we all care about. Well done!
As such a big fan of this work I go out of my way to both read and watch any version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL or a work that was inspired by it. I began this Holiday season by starting with EBENEZER: THE FINAL YEARS OF SCROOGE by author Donna Lee Howell.
Howell obviously knows her source material as her story is infused with many of the primary and secondary characters from the original tale. It is always interesting to see how creative authors who love Dickens' work interpret what a sequel or follow-up text would look like. In EBENEZER, the action is 16 years following the action of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
One point that Howell hits on which I found particularly poignant was how the majority of the local citizens treat Ebenezer Scrooge and his purported tale of Christmas visitations by Ghostly Spirits as the ranting of a madman. Many have grown to love Scrooge for the outward changes in his persona while others point and laugh at him as a figure worthy of ridicule.
Scrooge's changes have also impacted those around him. He is extremely close now with his nephew, Fred, and his new niece and nephew. His help with the Cratchet family has allowed Bob to follow his pursuit of medicine and he is now a physician. Additionally, Tiny Tim --- now a young man --- sees Scrooge as a second father and works alongside him in his business.
This time, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost Of Christmas That Never Was --- a Spirit in the form of a young boy named Jack who shows Scrooge alternate versions of Past, Present and Future and what outcomes may have been derived from each. The focus becomes Tim Cratchet who, even though he is happily married and a new father, still suffers from various ailments and for some reason has lost the will to live. Scrooge urgest the powers of whatever Spirits may still be watching over him to intervene on Tim's behalf and spare him --- offering Scrooge's own life in replacement.
EBENEZER is a novel worth catching this holiday season, especially for those who love the original, as it will allow you to spend more time with beloved characters that we all care about. Well done!
September 17, 2011
I really like the concept of this story. Ebenezer swore to keep Christmas everyday. He promised to help Tiny Tim and his family. He cleared many peoples debts. He wasn't quiet about his change. Everyone in the city heard about it. Did everyone think he was crazy? How was Ebenezer's life and the lives around him changed?
Without giving anything away, I really liked the beginning of the book and the writer did capture the era very well, but then it turned dark and depressing. As I was reading it, I kept thinking "Oh - I wouldn't have gone in that direction!". I especially do not like the part where poor Ebenezer was badly burned. I read a lot of Christian fiction and I normally prefer the darker side like Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, but this just missed the mark for me.
Without giving anything away, I really liked the beginning of the book and the writer did capture the era very well, but then it turned dark and depressing. As I was reading it, I kept thinking "Oh - I wouldn't have gone in that direction!". I especially do not like the part where poor Ebenezer was badly burned. I read a lot of Christian fiction and I normally prefer the darker side like Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, but this just missed the mark for me.
May 4, 2015
Loved this book! Its short, but continues the story of Scrooge and is a page turner. All the old characters are back, Ebenezer, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchet and more. Find out the rest of the story! LOL
January 11, 2018
I will preface this review by saying that I have never read The Christmas Carole. I have seen so many different versions, that I am well acquainted with the story and the thought of reading it just seems redundant. I have however read other works of Dickens, which is important later on in this review.
CHARACTERS
I enjoyed returning to the characters of TCC, and seeing 'the rest of the story' after the famous events crafted by Dickens. I feel the characters of Scrooge and Fred were recaptured well, but the rest of the cast had grown and changed quite a bit, so they didn't seem as familiar. I found it a little hard to believe that Bob Crachet became a doctor, honestly. And Tim goes through such a struggle as a character in this book, that he is far from the Tiny Tim we know and love. Toward the end of the book, Ebenezer gives him the tongue lashing and hypothetical slap in the face that I wanted to give the character myself.
STORY
Overall, the story was interesting, the best part with some of the most memorable lines are toward the very end of the book when Ebenezer has his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas That Never Was. This was the high light of Dicken's tale, and it is what I was waiting for the entire time while reading this book, the visitations. It took a lot to build up to that point, and found myself just wanting to get on with it. In the end it is a very small part of the book.
EXECUTION
For me, I found that the story dragged in parts. At key moments where Ebenezer was greatly concerned for Tim and when Tim was so uncharacteristically depressed I found it hard to relate and sympathize with them. I didn't connect with their fear or their depression, and thought it was irrational. I don't feel like the author got us into their heads enough to really understand why they were acting, thinking, and responding the way their were. This made it hard for me to really be invested in the story at times. I also felt like Tim's letter at the last of the book, a tool the author used to tie up all the ends of the various stories, was ill executed. Tim is writing to future generations, but repeating things that didn't need to be repeated to the reader and detailing events and asides that realistically he would not write in a letter to his grandchildren, but was clearly meant for the reader, so it was just out of place. The idea was good, the execution was lacking.
The rich, elegance of Dicken's writing style was very much missing from this work. It lacked that enduring elegance of language and artful story weaving that made the first book great. I have read sequels to the works of Jane Austen and those authors, while not trying to be Jane Austen, at least tried to emulate her writing style through language and vocabulary. That was not the case with this book, sadly.
This may sound like a harsh review, but I DID enjoy the book, as it was. And like I said, the highlight was Ebenezer's encounter with the Ghost of Christmas That Never Was, with some great concepts and truths about being so crippled by the idea of possibilities and the ripple of the effects of our actions that we actually paralyze ourselves from being able to do anything, locking ourselves into fear and the phantom of 'what if's'. This was a great message. The book has a decidedly Christian viewpoint, which suits me since I am one.
Overall, I think it was an enjoyable story.
CHARACTERS
I enjoyed returning to the characters of TCC, and seeing 'the rest of the story' after the famous events crafted by Dickens. I feel the characters of Scrooge and Fred were recaptured well, but the rest of the cast had grown and changed quite a bit, so they didn't seem as familiar. I found it a little hard to believe that Bob Crachet became a doctor, honestly. And Tim goes through such a struggle as a character in this book, that he is far from the Tiny Tim we know and love. Toward the end of the book, Ebenezer gives him the tongue lashing and hypothetical slap in the face that I wanted to give the character myself.
STORY
Overall, the story was interesting, the best part with some of the most memorable lines are toward the very end of the book when Ebenezer has his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas That Never Was. This was the high light of Dicken's tale, and it is what I was waiting for the entire time while reading this book, the visitations. It took a lot to build up to that point, and found myself just wanting to get on with it. In the end it is a very small part of the book.
EXECUTION
For me, I found that the story dragged in parts. At key moments where Ebenezer was greatly concerned for Tim and when Tim was so uncharacteristically depressed I found it hard to relate and sympathize with them. I didn't connect with their fear or their depression, and thought it was irrational. I don't feel like the author got us into their heads enough to really understand why they were acting, thinking, and responding the way their were. This made it hard for me to really be invested in the story at times. I also felt like Tim's letter at the last of the book, a tool the author used to tie up all the ends of the various stories, was ill executed. Tim is writing to future generations, but repeating things that didn't need to be repeated to the reader and detailing events and asides that realistically he would not write in a letter to his grandchildren, but was clearly meant for the reader, so it was just out of place. The idea was good, the execution was lacking.
The rich, elegance of Dicken's writing style was very much missing from this work. It lacked that enduring elegance of language and artful story weaving that made the first book great. I have read sequels to the works of Jane Austen and those authors, while not trying to be Jane Austen, at least tried to emulate her writing style through language and vocabulary. That was not the case with this book, sadly.
This may sound like a harsh review, but I DID enjoy the book, as it was. And like I said, the highlight was Ebenezer's encounter with the Ghost of Christmas That Never Was, with some great concepts and truths about being so crippled by the idea of possibilities and the ripple of the effects of our actions that we actually paralyze ourselves from being able to do anything, locking ourselves into fear and the phantom of 'what if's'. This was a great message. The book has a decidedly Christian viewpoint, which suits me since I am one.
Overall, I think it was an enjoyable story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 18, 2026I have NO IDEA how to rate this.
It was hard reading about Scrooge seeming to be over-taken by senility and old age. It was awful reading about Tiny Tim being depressed and suicidal. I disliked the use of words that struck me as totally wrong, such as using a common modern meaning of the word "gross" as being ugly or disgusting, and a British character calling their mother "mom". That one may have been a typo that got by the editors, but "gross" was used in the context several times, each as jarring as the first. It was distressing to read of situations that seemed to have been happily resolved in the original Dickens to have turned out to be more misery, especially since the new miseries could easily have been avoided once Scrooge had experienced his A CHRISTMAS CAROL rebirth.
It all came out all right in the end, and had a cute little surprise ending that was not much of a surprise.
For me, it was depressing for most of the novel, and I am not sure the happy final chapter can make up for that.
It was hard reading about Scrooge seeming to be over-taken by senility and old age. It was awful reading about Tiny Tim being depressed and suicidal. I disliked the use of words that struck me as totally wrong, such as using a common modern meaning of the word "gross" as being ugly or disgusting, and a British character calling their mother "mom". That one may have been a typo that got by the editors, but "gross" was used in the context several times, each as jarring as the first. It was distressing to read of situations that seemed to have been happily resolved in the original Dickens to have turned out to be more misery, especially since the new miseries could easily have been avoided once Scrooge had experienced his A CHRISTMAS CAROL rebirth.
It all came out all right in the end, and had a cute little surprise ending that was not much of a surprise.
For me, it was depressing for most of the novel, and I am not sure the happy final chapter can make up for that.
January 27, 2023
Though imaginative, I admit I read this book hoping for a different story. At a conference years ago, I read a version of the original tale that had Scrooge seeing ghosts in order to repeat of his sin and turn to God for salvation. This book tells another story. God is mentioned as the Boss on page 231, but no salvational transformation follows. The story stands on it's own as a creative, well-thought-out expansion of the original.
It begins 16 years after the end of Dickens's ends. Bob is a doctor, Tim is grown with a wife and family, and Ebenezer is changed some, but not at the heart. I read the story in 2 days, and enjoyed it's ghostly plot. However, I kept wondering why it was written? Why continue the tale? I hoped it wás for salvation, for knowing God, but it wasn't.
This is a fun read that stands on it's own. The colorful pictures painted by the author's choice of words and clearly envisioned scenes was impressive and enjoyable. She is artful in turning a phrase. The last page reveals who the author imagines Dickens really is.
It begins 16 years after the end of Dickens's ends. Bob is a doctor, Tim is grown with a wife and family, and Ebenezer is changed some, but not at the heart. I read the story in 2 days, and enjoyed it's ghostly plot. However, I kept wondering why it was written? Why continue the tale? I hoped it wás for salvation, for knowing God, but it wasn't.
This is a fun read that stands on it's own. The colorful pictures painted by the author's choice of words and clearly envisioned scenes was impressive and enjoyable. She is artful in turning a phrase. The last page reveals who the author imagines Dickens really is.
June 8, 2024
Couldn't finish the book. Boring, predictable.
December 18, 2024
If you enjoyed A Christmas Carol like I did, I think you'll like this book. That is if you can get around some of the grammatical errors, which did drive me a little crazy.
December 15, 2012
Concept drew me to this book when I heard it discussed on a podcast. However, the execution compared to the original lacked something special. Too much attention on hocus locus and not enough on character or setting detail.
December 7, 2015
Couldn't finish it. Christian fiction prose. Blah. Garbage tome.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews