Submitted by Jon Freeman
It was shortly before Christmas in 1843. A struggling author who was facing bankruptcy wrote a short book that he hoped would help keep his creditors at a distance. The author also hoped the book would help rescue his struggling writing career. In fact, the author had contemplated giving up writing fiction altogether. The author was a man named Charles Dickens. The book was A Christmas Carol, and it became a bestseller overnight.
Les Standiford’s book The Man Who Invented Christmas, tells the fascinating story of Dickens’ writing of A Christmas Carol, and the impact the book had on our culture and the public’s perception of Christmas. In 1843 England, Christmas was not a widely celebrated top tier holiday like it is today. Les Standiford’s well researched book goes over the life of Charles Dickens, and explains how his experiences influenced his writing. Charles Dickens’ father served time in debtors prison when Charles was a child, forcing a young Charles Dickens to go to work at Warren’s Blacking factory because he and his family needed the money. This was a bad memory and humiliating experience that had a significant impact on his writing.
The book explains how people in Charles Dickens real life inspired characters for the book. Learn more interesting things about Dickens’ classic book like that fact that he wrote and produced A Christmas Carol in only six weeks. The publisher turned the story down thinking there was not really a market for Christmas books. Thus, Dickens ended up using his own money to publish and put out A Christmas Carol himself. Read about the true amazing story of how Dickens wrote this holiday classic, and the way it changed the way people view the Christmas Holiday by checking out a copy of The Man Who Invented Christmas.