The acclaimed author of Finn тАЬdigs down to the bones of a classic and creates must-read modern literatureтАЭ (Charles Frazier, New York Times bestselling author) with this тАЬclever riffтАЭ (The Washington Post) on DickensтАЩs classic A Christmas Carol that explores of the relationship between Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.
тАЬMarley was dead, to begin with,тАЭ Charles Dickens tells us at the beginning of A Christmas Carol. But in Jon ClinchтАЩs тАЬmasterlyтАЭ (The New York Times Book Review) novel, Jacob Marley, business partner to Ebenezer Scrooge, is very much alive: a rapacious and cunning boy who grows up to be a forger, a scoundrel, and the man who will be both the making and the undoing of Scrooge.
They meet as youths in the gloomy confines of Professor DrabbтАЩs Academy for Boys, where Marley begins their twisted friendship by initiating the innocent Scrooge into the art of extortion. Years later, in the dank heart of London, their shared ambition manifests itself in a fledgling shipping empire. Between MarleyтАЩs genius for deception and ScroogeтАЩs brilliance with numbers, they amass a considerable fortune of dubious legality, all rooted in a pitiless commitment to the soon-to-be-outlawed slave trade.
As Marley toys with the affections of ScroogeтАЩs sister, Fan, Scrooge falls under the spell of FanтАЩs best friend, Belle Fairchild. Now, for the first time, Scrooge and Marley find themselves at odds. With their business interests inextricably bound together and instincts for secrecy and greed bred in their very bones, the two men engage in a shadowy war of deception, forged documents, theft, and cold-blooded murder. Marley and Scrooge are destined to clash in an unforgettable reckoning that will echo into the future and set the stage for MarleyтАЩs ghostly return.
тАЬRead through to the last page of this brilliant book, and I promise you that you will have a permanently changed view, not just of DickensтАЩs world, but of the world we live in todayтАЭ (Elizabeth Letts, New York Times bestselling author).