A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Christmas Carol (c) 1843
by Charles DickensA Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, first published in 1843, is a classic that will likely be a part of many people's Christmas traditions for centuries.
Ebenezer Scrooge is a hard-hearted, merciless man who does nothing illegal, but is just unkind to everyone with whom he comes in contact, including his own nephew. When the story opens, we see how heartless he is when his employee can't even stoke the fire to get warm, and later when he rebuffs his own nephew's attempts to invite him to Christmas dinner, and then two gentlemen who are seeking charitable donations to benefit the poor.
Later that night, his business partner, Jacob Marley who has been dead for seven years exactly, (he'd died seven years before the story began, on Christmas Eve) returns as a ghost to give Scrooge a warning that he must change his ways. But he is not the only ghostly visitor to come to Scrooge.
Most everyone is familiar with the story, and the journey that Scrooge takes with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, and the things he realizes and the changes he undergoes.
I like the story because it shows that people can change for the better, and I like the additional characters, particularly Tiny Tim, whose inclusion helps readers to see that Scrooge's change isn't just because he fears for his own soul, but that he has developed empathy for others as the story progresses.
I recommend the story to anyone who enjoys Dickens' writing, classical stories, and Christmas.