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Miss Marley: The Untold Story of Jacob Marley’s Sister by Vanessa Lafaye

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A heartwarming prequel to Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Orphaned at a young age, Clara and Jacob Marley soon find themselves in a fight for survival on the streets of London. Jacob is determined to do whatever it takes to prevent them further suffering, striving to gather whatever money he can by whatever means required to pull them from their life of squalor and deprivation.

Through sheer will and courage, Clara and Jacob begin to build a life for themselves, finding opportunities for work. Jacob joins a bookkeeping firm and becomes acquainted with Ebenezer Scrooge – they are true kindred spirits, determined to become successful and never be without money again. As the firm of Scrooge and Marley is formed and builds, Clara struggles to come to terms with the changes she sees in her brother – their life of hardship and his newfound success have turned his heart to blackened stone.

Clara finds her own sources of joy in her life. But tragedy threatens to strike and there is but limited time for Clara to save her brother from the chains he has forged, from which he may never be free.

As the first ghost to visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve in Dickens’ classic tale, Jacob Marley is one of the most significant characters in ‘A Christmas Carol’, the catalyst by which the rest of the story unfolds. Yet we only meet him fleetingly and know little of his life aside from him having been guilty of the same sins as Scrooge, whom Marley implores to use what remains of his life to change for the better. As such, Jacob Marley remains shrouded in mystery.

‘Miss Marley’ tells of Marley’s history from the perspective of his younger sister, Clara. Both suffer the same loss and hardship, yet we witness the two paths that such torture of the human spirit can lead one to follow – Clara embraces gratitude and a greater appreciation of the beauty of life, while Jacob becomes hardened and uncaring. There is no time when these differences are more apparent than at Christmastime.

Beautifully written in the lyrical prose of Dickens’ era, this charming novella brims with imagery of the season of goodwill, while laced with heartbreak and despair – a consistently emotional rollercoaster. It engrosses from beginning to end; a touching addition to the legacy of this legendary Christmas ghost story.

The true tragedy of this work is that its author, Vanessa LaFaye, sadly passed away while writing it. Much like Dickens himself, she left her final book incomplete. Her friend and fellow writer and Dickens enthusiast, Rebecca Mascull, completed the book, capturing the spirit of the story seamlessly. The finale is evermore poignant for this.

If the legacy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ teaches us anything, it’s that, no matter how short our lives are, what we leave behind long outlives us and is born of what we hold in our hearts. Stories are immortal and, in them, their authors live forever.



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