Mr. Dickens and His Carol is a 2017 historical fiction novel written by Samantha Silva. The novel depicts Charles Dickens’s journey of finding the right inspiration to write A Christmas Carol. The novel also explores how this creative journey transforms him as a person and helps him to heal his strained family relationships and friendships as well as his own trauma. Ultimately, he regains his appreciation for the Christmas spirit while befriending and forming a new bond with the kind and mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who becomes his artistic inspiration.

This study guide refers to the 2017 Flatiron Books e-book edition.

Content Warning: The novel contains depictions of classism, stalking, and mentions of forced imprisonment. It also describes relationships that could be interpreted as toxic.

Plot Summary

Charles Dickens writes his latest Martin Chuzzlewit story while his wife Catherine is in labor. When his publishers, Chapman and Hall, visit, they tell him that Martin Chuzzlewit is severely underperforming, so they tell him that he must write a Christmas book to avoid any deductions in his pay. Dickens refuses and goes for a walk to collect himself. When he returns, his children greet him and try to persuade him to take them to Bumble’s Toy Shop. Dickens goes upstairs to see Catherine and their newborn son, but he does not tell her about the book; he only mentions his wish to have a less extravagant version of Christmas this year. Catherine disagrees and reminds him to take the children to Bumble’s Toy Shop.

Despite Dickens’s financial worries, he hopes that his next Chuzzlewit book will sell better. He meets with his friend and representative, John Forster, who supports his decision not to write the Christmas book and encourages him to lower his budget. When Dickens and his children arrive at Bumble’s Toy Shop, he tells them only to look, for Christmas is about the heart. Inside, Mr. Bumble tries to get Dickens signed up for charity funds, which he hesitates to do. Mr. Bumble promises to save him a spot. Though he initially promised himself not to spend much money, he does buy toys for his children. As he and his children leave the store, a man named Jacob Marley asks for his autograph but throws it away when he realizes that Dickens is not Thackeray. From this encounter, Dickens gets the inspiration to have a deceased character named Jacob Marley in his next book. As he and his children head home, a young street urchin watches him with interest. His brother and father ask for money, which he reluctantly provides. Though Dickens is frustrated with financial pressures and his family’s demands for a good Christmas, he realizes that he needs to write the Christmas book. When his family disrupts his efforts to write, he grows frustrated and storms out. The leader of the boys who live on the street (whose name is later revealed to be David Copperfield) approaches him for money, and Dickens gives him a coin, unsettled. He meets his representative, Forster, and then accepts an invitation to meet with Maria Beadnell, his former love. He hopes that seeing her again will inspire his writing. However, the meeting is fruitless, for she only cares about his money and fame. Maria later visits Catherine and tells her of the meeting with Dickens; this makes Catherine distrustful of her husband. After Dickens returns home, Catherine and the children prepare to leave for Scotland. She tells him that he has lost the Christmas spirit and has forgotten what Christmas means. They then leave Dickens standing alone outside the house.

Alone, Dickens prepares to write but has no inspiration, so he goes to London to find it. Hearing the clock tower chime nearby, he soon meets a purple-cloaked woman. He befriends her and is immediately enchanted by her. He stays at Furnival’s Inn as he writes and soon learns that the woman, Eleanor Lovejoy, is a seamstress at the theater. He soon becomes obsessed with her, and after he endures an unpleasant bad encounter with a disgruntled fan, she creates an old man disguise for him. Dickens enjoys his disguise as an old man, but he uses the novelty of anonymity to take out his frustrations on people who anger him or have wronged him. He also puts an announcement in the newspaper declaring that he will no longer give his relatives any money.

He also tasks his actor friend, Macready, with finding out more about Eleanor and discovers that she has not been paid since the previous year, which troubles him. Meanwhile, his father, John, arrives at the inn, and Dickens reiterates his resolution not to give his father any more money. He feels that his father takes him for granted and resents the fact that John was locked in debtor’s prison when Dickens himself was a child. Dejected, his father leaves. Later, Dickens sees Eleanor at the Folly theater and follows her to a graveyard, where he finds a grave inscribed with the name of her husband, Timothy Lovejoy. While he is there, a boy who has been sketching him steals his hat. Dickens chases the boy to Eleanor’s house. She reveals that the boy is her son, Timothy, who loves Dickens’s books. When Dickens reads Eleanor his finished manuscript, she tells him that although it is a good story, it does not have enough emphasis on Christmas. The following day, the manuscript has vanished from the inn in which Dickens is staying. Forster blames Eleanor for its disappearance, causing Dickens to end his friendship with the man out of pique. The next day, the desk clerk sends Dickens to talk to the unhoused boys on the street, the leader of whom tells Dickens that although they did not steal his manuscript, they know where it might be. Upon discovering that the thief is his father, Dickens is desolate. He goes to Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, where he worked as a child to pay off his family’s debts after his father was imprisoned. He later tells Eleanor about his past and his lack of Christmas spirit, and Eleanor assures him that his books have great meaning to many people. She also helps him to better understand his father. He decides to rewrite the Christmas book, and she encourages him to use his memories for inspiration.

Dickens quickly rewrites the book using Eleanor’s advice. Having regained his Christmas spirit and his joy, he visits Eleanor and Timothy and talks about his progress and inspirations. He then sees a sketch of a family having Christmas dinner, and this tableau inspires Dickens with a fitting ending for the book, which he titles A Christmas Carol. After an outing, he shares his latest achievements with Eleanor and promises to read the book to her and Timothy. When Eleanor leaves, the clock chimes 12 times. Dickens notices Eleanor’s footprints disappearing and runs to her house, where he finds Timothy alone. The boy tells Dickens that his mother had been dead for a year and that he has stayed in the house and now sells sketches to survive. Dickens realizes that Eleanor was a ghost all along, and he reads A Christmas Carol to Timothy. The following morning, he leaves the house, telling Timothy to pack and meet him at his inn. A Christmas Carol is a commercial success, and Dickens’s public reading of it is applauded. Afterward, he finds Timothy at Eleanor’s grave and invites the boy to spend Christmas with him. They spend Christmas Day together, with Dickens signing up for Mr. Bumble’s charity funds and buying Timothy toys. Dickens also makes amends with his father and invites him back to his house, where he finds a Christmas party in full swing. There, Dickens makes amends with Forster and reaches an understanding with his rival, Thackeray. Catherine and the children then arrive, and Dickens embraces them. He also apologizes to Catherine for his behavior, and she forgives him. They join the party and sing carols, with Dickens quoting the last line of A Christmas Carol as he holds his newborn son.