What is A Christmas Carol?
{{Use British English}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{italictitle}} [[File:Charles Dickens-A Christmas Carol-Title page-First edition 1843.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A Christmas Carol [[frontispiece]] and title page]] '''''A Christmas Carol''''' is a [[novella]] by the [[British]] writer [[Charles Dickens]]. It was first published on 19 December 1843 by Chapman & Hall in [[London]]. [[John Leech]] made the [[illustration]]s. The first edition was a beautiful and expensive book. It was sold out by [[Christmas Eve]], but Dickens never made the money he expected on the tale due to the book's high production costs. When Dickens wrote the novella, the British were longing for the traditional merry Old English [[Christmas]]. Christmas customs of the past were being revived. New Christmas customs such as the [[Christmas tree]] and the [[greeting card]] were making their first appearances. Old carols were being sung. The novella has been credited with restoring the festive spirit of Christmas after a period of [[Puritanism|Puritan]] sobriety and solemnity. {{citation needed|date=November 2018}} The story is about a Christmas-hating [[:wikt:miser|miser]] named [[Ebenezer Scrooge]]. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts who transform him into a kind and generous man. The story has a strong [[moral]] messages about greed and poverty. It is usually read at [[Christmas]] time and has been adapted to [[theatre]], [[movie]]s, [[radio]], and [[television]] many times. == Background == Charles Dickens was from a [[Middle class|middle-class]] family. The family got into financial difficulty, because Charles' father, [[John Dickens]], was bad at dealing with money. In 1824, John Dickens was put in [[prison]], because of the [[debt]] he had. Charles had to [[Pawn shop|pawn]] his collection of books, and leave shool to work at a [[factory]]. He was twelve years old at the time. The factory where he worked produced [[shoe polish]]. It was dirty and there were many [[rat]]s. The change gave him what his biographer, Mi