Why a Booktrail?
1800s: The prequel to A Christmas Carol
Miss Marley: A Christmas ghost story
Why a Booktrail?
1800s: The prequel to A Christmas Carol
What you need to know before your trail
Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’ and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price.
And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart…
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
BookTrail Travel toLondon
Meet author Rebecca Mascull in #authorsonlocation
Dickens’ London reimagined by the wonderful author Vanessa Lafaye who sadly died earlier this year before she could complete this novella. Rebecca Mascull, an author in her own right, took up the pen and finished it so this world is a creation of two great writers paying homage to Dickens himself.
The streets are cobbled, the urchins crowd round shops windows and the city is as bustling and as dirty as ever:
“Snow was just beginning to fall, the sort of fluffy, delicate flakes that turned slowly through the lamp-light frosting the pavements and the shops lining Percy Street, and softening the clop of the horses’ hooves. Customers spilled out of the door of Mr Quoit’s, arms laden with gaily wrapped for lucky children.”
“A group of ragged poor children were always clustered around the window, noses running, smearing the dimpled glass with their grubby hands. Dreaming of toys they would never touch, much less possess.”
This is Dickens London : A must see is of course the museum of the writer’s home, where he wrote some of his novels.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
I love stories which look at minor, or in this case fictional, characters from books and then examine their backstory. Wild Sargasso Sea predates the antics of Mr Rochester before he met Jane Eyre. In Miss Marley, Jacob Marley’s sister takes centre stage and I loved it. It brings a real magic to the world of Dickens, Scrooge and those snowy London streets.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Miss Marley: A Christmas ghost story
Author/Guide: Vanessa Lafaye, Rebecca Mascull Destination: London Departure Time: 1800s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
