Jacob T. Marley

by R. William Bennett, Simon Vance (Narrator)

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a holiday favorite and this new book, written in the style of Dickens, tells the story from the perspective of the character who was a ruthless taskmaster business partner who taught and influenced Scrooge and then saved him from the brink of a terrible fate.

Jacob T. Marley is to A Christmas Carol as the world-famous Wicked is to The Wizard of Oz and is a masterfully crafted story teaching us, once again, the true meaning of Christmas.

Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Book Club, Historical Fiction, Holiday, Audiobook, Classics

5 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Berit☀️✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎄🎄🎄 Merry Christmas! Everyone! 🎄🎄🎄

4 stars for this Christmas story with a new perspective ... Jacob T Marley is Ebenezer Scrooge’s guide in the classic Christmas storyA Christmas Carol. This story gives you a look at both Jacob and Ebenezer‘s backstory leading up to the classic tale... why is Jacob now so determined to change Scrooge‘s perspective and ultimately his life?

You also get a glimpse again of the visits of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future..... this time you get to see it through Jacob‘s eyes.... you also get treated to everyone’s favorite tiny Tim.....

I thought this was a nice twist to an old classic and would definitely recommend for a holiday read!

🎧🎧🎧
5 stars for Simon Vances amazing audio narration that made me feel as though I was reading a proper Christmas story!❤️💚

[Mary Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book to place on the shelf next to Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The author does a good job of lifting the secondary character of Jacob Marley out of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and rounds it out, filling in background on just who Marley was, what type of family he came from, and how his own choices created the creature that appears to Scrooge on Christmas Eve. I like how the author describes the character of Marley: "For the corrupt character of Jacob Thelonius Marley was not made of deity; rather, it was a morbid distortion of who he had started out to be, a sad and rough-hewn statue chipped to existence from the stone of his potential by choice after choice of the man himself." The fact that Marley was named after a grandfather, Thelonius, who was highly esteemed and loved in his community, makes the rough-hewn character of Marley even more of a tragedy. To use the lattice of Dickens' ghosts visiting Scrooge to teach one more soul lessons of his life that "might have been" was intriguing and powerful. In the end, to read of the ultimate sacrifice that Marley would make for his partner in business, brings the story to a delightful finishing climax.


Very rare occurrence. I read this book twice.
I am a slow reader, and refrain from reading over ground I've already trodden.
However, this is a short, quick, enriching read. And so for my book groups sake, I re-read it.
Again, I was enthralled in the back story of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Though there were things I felt were a bit trite in the stating, I still enjoyed the style of Charles D. used throughout. And the story is a great one of the weakness of human greed and self-preservation to the strength of looking at all mankind with the purpose of aiding them on their journey in mortality. I still highly recommend it as a great read, especially at Christmas.

[Petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun story to read at Christmas.
Told from the perspective of Jacob Marley, this is his story. Although there are some liberties taken with the original story, Marley's story is one of warmth, forgiveness and kindness; just like Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
This book hasn't the depth and feeling of Dickens but is an interesting background on Marley.
I particularly enjoyed it from when Marley engages with Scrooge and the ghosts visit. The last couple of chapters are interesting. I won't think coincidences in the same way again and will (I hope) see opportunity to help more readily and with more awareness.
A fun story; one I'm glad to add to my Christmas reading queue.

[Robin Hatcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟
I first read this book five Christmases ago. I enjoyed it even more this time (a book club read). It's such a good companion for A Christmas Carol. There are some beautiful truths about our call to be a blessing to others as we go through life (just as in Dickens' story).
***
Original Review (2017):
What a fun sequel to A Christmas Carol! This was a perfect holiday season read. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook, and I love the way the author stayed true to the original story while giving a unique view into Jacob Marley, both before and after his death. If you are a stickler for sound Christian theology, don't look to this novel. But if you read it for the sheer joy of creativity, I think you'll be pleased. Merry Christmas!

[Janssen]

This was a great, quick holiday listen.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, Mr. Bennett. How often do we read a good book and write our own after-stories for one or more of the characters? I do this frequently with Dickens. I recently finished Martin Chuzzlewit and I wrote an entire afterlife for Tom Pinch (only in my head, of course.) Dickens is an author who particularly invites you to do that, because he writes even minor characters with such aplomb that they become real.

William Bennett did not confine his afterlife writing to his head, he put it on paper, and I am pleased to say that I am glad he did. The character he dares to pursue is Jacob T. Marley, the first ghost we meet in A Christmas Carol. We all know Marley, and he is absolutely dead. In fact, he is “dead to begin with.” So, one would assume an author might imagine a prelife story for Marley, but not an afterlife story; after all, he is in the actual afterlife when A Christmas Carol begins. If you entertain that thought, you have underestimated the cleverness of Mr. Bennett.

If you are, like me, often reluctant to have someone else piddle with a famous author’s characters or story, have no fear of this one. I highly recommend it, as it offers both the opportunity to spend a little unfamiliar time with a beloved story, while also reinforcing all the most important points Dickens made in his original. I cannot, of course, be sure, but I think Charles Dickens might have smiled and clapped his hands for this one.

[Peter Monn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geniously written. A wonderful counterpart to A Christmas Carol. My full review will be on my booktube channel at http://Youtube.com/peterlikesbooks

[Lubinka Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice take on a beloved story. At times it did seem a bit forced, so that some facts could fit into the original story. Although it's not as touching as Dickens' initial book, it's still quite heart-warming, and I did enjoy the opportunity to read something christmas-y these days. Once again, the narrator, Simon Vance, took a book that could otherwise be rather indifferent and transformed it into something magical.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t know if this was because this story was new to me but it affected me more than A Christmas Carol. We all know about Scrooge but what about Marley? What was his life like? Why did Scrooge get a chance at redemption and Marley did not? Or did he? We find out about Marley and how he and Scrooge met. They are perfect for each other. They are two peas in a pod.

We get to experience part of A Christmas Carol through this novel as we see the events occur through Marley. We also learn what happens to Scrooge after everything is said and done. This could be another reason I like this story more than a Christmas Carol. There is a completeness to it. I listened to this on audio after A Christmas Carol and I think that is how it should be read. Experience A Christmas Carol first then Jacob T. Marley for the complete story.

Jacob T. Marley is recommended.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listening to this book at Christmastime each year is a treasured tradition. Such a beautiful message of redemption!

[Melissa Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
I honestly was not a fan of Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I found the tiny book boring. It was one of the only times that I enjoyed the movies over the book. I was a bit reluctant on this story even though Dickens didn't write it. I was afraid it would have the same blah to it. As you can see by my rating, I was pleasantly surprised.
I love that this book asks the question of why the ghosts of Christmas spirit would visit Scrooge and give him a second chance and not Marley. That thought never crossed my mind until I saw this book and then I just had to know why. It was well done with seeing Marley grow and change right before your eyes. Quite a heart-warming story and perfect for the holiday season.

[Lori Keeton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this invention of Jacob Marley’s backstory before he visits Scrooge as a ghost who has been wandering the earth loaded down with heavy chains. This is a retelling of the classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. The story is told from Marley’s perspective as it seeks to explain the reasons he was condemned to haunt Scrooge. The first several chapters tell of his life as a child and provide the main instance from his school years that instigated his pride and greed which continued to grow over his lifetime. Marley’s greed was extreme – here seen as worse than Scrooge’s because he had no chance for redemption. This story explores the causes and eternal consequences of Marley’s greed.

Eventually the tale catches up to when he visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve to tell him of the 3 spirits that will visit him, and we see the original story from Marley’s perspective. Overall, this short book expands on Marley’s character (if you ever wondered what he may have been like) and gives readers a more in depth look at his life and what motivated him. It is very well written, and I felt had a similar vibe and feeling to it as “A Christmas Carol.”

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If we do nothing but to remove a rock upon which someone might have tripped, though they may never know we did it, is this not our cause, our reason for life?”

This was a very satisfying companion to Dicken's Christmas Carol. 4.5 stars

[Steve Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. Don't read this thinking it's going to 'fill the gaps' in A Christmas Carol. It definitely won't. I have three major criticisms of this book. The first, unforgivable flaw is the writing and language. It's written in a style that is supposed to mirror Dickens' own writing, and whilst it works in places, there are far too many others in which it doesn't. It's written in US English, so has z instead of s, favor instead of favour etc., coupled with far too many instances of US English words and phrases such as 'gotten' and 'come live with them' instead of 'come and live with them'. Even when you consider that some of the phrases and words in the original may have fallen out of use, these are glaring errors in something that purports to be written in the same style. Shame on the author, editor, and publisher. And before anyone cries xenophobia, it's a matter of bringing any non-US English speaker out of the book in short order. Any sense of expecting a reader to suspend their disbelief vanishes with such inattention to detail.

Secondly, the book is overly twee, sickly sweet in places, and has far too religious an angle. The spirits become a horde of God-channellers, and it's definitely at odds to the way Dickens described the Church. Making them agents of Christ was a step too far. There's one passage at the point that Jacob meets his spirit 'guide' and it is vomit-inducing tweeness. Proclaiming that he doesn't know what feeling has come across him, but that he knew it as a child, to which the spirit tells him he's feeling 'love'. Good grief.

Thirdly, the second half of the book, and I mean the whole second half, is essentially just a retelling of A Christmas Carol from the time of Jacob's visit. Whole swathes of the original text are reproduced verbatim, with a small number of additional sentences or paragraphs clumsily tacked on to try and explain things from the author's odd and disjointed view of why Jacob is there.

This is not the story of Jacob. His life is not explored, and when the author wants us to believe that Scrooge is only saved because Jacob takes on his bad deeds as his own, then wakes up rid of those debts of life, it makes a mockery of the story of redemption that Dickens told us. It is a gooey, mess of a book, and a shameless cash-grab, worthy of Scrooge and Marley themselves.

If you love A Christmas Carol as I do, please, don't read this book. It is AWFUL.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't so much a prequel or even a retelling of A Christmas Carol as it was a line-by-line rehashing from a different point of view. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't add enough to be worth reading over the original.

I guess some things can't be improved on.

2 stars.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

This story focuses on the minor, but important, character out of A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley. Or Jacob T. Marley as the title says - who knew his middle name was Thelonious?

Bennett has written a backstory of sorts, showing us how Scrooge and Marley became partners, how Marley influenced Scrooge and what led up to Marley visiting Ebenezer in his bedroom the night he tells of the three spirits who will visit Scrooge. We see that Marley out-scrooged Scrooge in his lack of caring for his fellow man and his miserliness! We also see the role that Marley played as the three spirits visit Ebenezer and what happens to both Marley's ghost and to Scrooge after that fateful night.

Written in the style of Dickens, Jacob T. Marley is also a story of second chances and redemption, but here we see how love, compassion and forgiveness are key to that redemption. I really enjoyed this! I got swept up in the completely believable companion to A Christmas Carol, even if it did lay things on a little thick at times. Narration great, Simon Vance, was the perfect choice for this.

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well done prequel. I thorough enjoyed it. The message enhanced the original inspirations included in A Christmas Carol. Highly recommend.

[Helga Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful holiday story to read this time of the year. In this book a sort of prequel about Marley the ghost, it begins, "Marley was dead." So the journey focuses on his early life and his life as a business partner with Ebenezer Scrooge. Marley is seen as a miserly and mean man who influenced Scrooge to be the person he became. It is an interesting view of Marley and how he sought to redeem himself and save Scrooge from the evil person he was. It explains why he was so evil and what he did to save Scrooge and ultimately himself.

This is a well done story and is recommended as an additional read to the real thing. I would not rely on this as the main story or replacement as I think nothing can beat it. The real story was the basis of this one and it could not have been written without it. This is a good read during the holidays and the theme and process of redemption and forgiveness is universal and so needed this time of the year and with the world today.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate this book with a firey passion! It reads like a sermon and comes off as intensely preachy, and basically Mormon-ifies the Christmas Carol which I found kind of weird/tasteless. The best parts were phrases lifted from Dickensen's original, and the cheesiness factor was too high for me to complete the book (I ended up skimming it).

I have mixed feelings about commercial fan-fiction like this; I feel like Bennett is merely capitalizing off of the popularity of A Christmas Carol without providing the same substance, which only furthers my intense dislike for this book.

[Marni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was leery about reading this - adding to Dickens???? But multiple people I live with read it this season and raved, so I dove in.

W.O.W. Amazing. It was actually possible to add more depth to Dickens' already wonderful story, and I think Dickens would be pleased. You've got time - take a walk with Jacob T. Marley this Christmas.

Beautiful story of love, changing hearts, second chances, and redemption.

[Kirsten Manley]

Charming, insightful, thoughtful. The overlapping of Scrooge and Marley’s stories was interesting. RIP FAN! 😫 A fun Christmas read!

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas Carol Fanfiction

This book is nostalgic because I wrote a book report on it in Fifth Grade.

While I love the idea of Jacob Marley pleading in the afterlife on Scrooge’s behalf, on a repeat read through I found a lot of this book not as entertaining as I used to. The focus is on Jacob, which is fine, except for the ending, which steals the power of Scrooge’s change at the end of the ghostly visits. Entertaining, but not a necessary read. I might skip it next year.

[Skylar Phelps · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
I liked this one. It was thought provoking and added some good insight and depth to the beloved story.
I do feel that the author took a little too much liberty with some aspects but the story shines just as brightly from a second perspective.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Christmas Carol from Jacob Marleys point of view... something a bit different. Wasn't sure to begin with but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great narrator too

[Travis Stroup · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly clever and incredibly touching. I liked how the author was able to write Jacob Marley in death in the spirit realm so seamlessly. The whole descent into greed and selfishness was truly painful to read. Thankfully the character redemption was so strong. I loved Jacob taking Scrooge’s chains so that Scrooge’s could be given another chance, even if it was tiny. The whole spirit realm and play within the characters was so well crafted. It was a really strong point of the book.

[Viana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up. “Marley was dead, to begin with.” We don’t really know much about Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s erstwhile partner who brings the Spirits to his bedside. This book seeks to fill in the gaps in our knowledge by focusing on Marley’s origin story as well as his demise. Ultimately a story of redemption for Marley and for Scrooge, this book demonstrates how our actions have both intentional and unintentional consequences, but we all have chance to change our ways.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful read, true in spirit and style to Dickens, an engaging look at the behind the scenes character of Jacob Marley and his role in A Christmas Carol.

[Frank Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book!

[SpookySoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: I fully enjoyed it 🤗. Updated Rating upon re-read, I added 1 star
Emotions: Satisfied, content, curious, glad.
Recommended if you like: Dicken's A Christmas Carol, retellings, villian's backstories, prequels, Christmas centric stories.

I love Dicken's A Christmas Carol, (the story, not so much the actual novel), and around this time in the year I like to watch an adaptation; so far I've watched a lot of them, it's one of my favorite things to do on the holidays. When I found out about this book I wanted to read it right away, and I'm very glad I did.

We get the backstory of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's partner. We see the relationship the two had and the role Marley played in Scrooge's road to perdition and subsequent redemption.

The writing style is more modern than Dicken's and less flowery, witch I liked. It still had that familiar feeling, reminiscent of the original story. This one is better paced and to me it was a more enjoyable read than the original.

I liked it, it was interesting, imaginative and gives us another perspective of the original story, making it more complete. I recommend it.

Jacob Thelonious Marley, was named Thelonious for his grandfather, a man who gave up his life while saving several people from a burning building. At first Jacob wore his name with pride, but the burden of it, the expectations, were too much for him so he shortened it to T and then got rid of it altogether. He became very good at math and with numbers, his pride grew. Slowly he became more interested in money and despised poor people, love, children and his family, because he saw them as burdens. After his mother death, although he paid for everything and gave his siblings some money, He asked them not to contact him ever again and cut all ties.

He leased a house to Scrooge's pregnant sister and his husband. Her husband had lost his job and couldn't pay rent. Marley made them move out, so they had to live on the street and that's why she died.

Then in a gridlock cause by her funeral, he met Scrooge (at this point he didn't know she was the woman he had kicked out), and while talking Marley learned Scrooge could be a potential employee, so they agreed to have a business interview later. Scrooge went, and that was how they ended up being partners.

Marley asked Scrooge why he was engaged and told him that he thought that was a waste of time and an inconvenience. Scrooge already was having second thoughts and was slowly distancing from Belle. She broke the engagement with him.

When Marley is dying, in his last moments, he realizes Scrooge doesn't care about him at all, they aren't friends but at least he expects gratitude for the opportunities he gave him. But suddenly he realizes that he is largely responsible for his downfall, so with his last breath he asks for his forgiveness. Scrooge ignores him.

Marley dies and a spirit talks to him, telling him that he lived a selfish life but that he at least, at the end, open up his eyes to his wrongdoings, forgave and asked for forgiveness. Marley ask the spirit to be able to help Scrooge so he doesn't end up like him. The spirit tells Marley that the fate of people like him, because of the way he lived, is to wander the earth for eternity reliving the times when he had the opportunity to do good but didn't, and explains that is hell. The idea is to see the ripple effect one's decision has in the whole world. But the spirit tells him that because he forgave at the end, he will be spare this fate. The spirit tells him, he is not capable to help Scrooge, so Marley offers to reclute and convince those who may be able to, but to do so Marley first needs to see his life's wrongdoings and when he is ready those spirits, that can help Scrooge, will contact him.

Later the spirits told him is time to try to help Scrooge. Seeing the things the spirits showed Scrooge, Marley realized the extent of how his views and ideas influenced Scrooge. He also learned Scrooge's childhood wasn't happy as his was, his part in his sister death and in the broken engagement.

The spirits tell Jacob that Scrooge’s time is up and that he won’t be redeemed, so he offers himself as a sacrifice to give him more time, and take his chains. Because of that, Scrooge could finally change and Jacob was redeemed too, because he was wiling to suffer in Scrooge’s place.

At the end, Scrooge and Jacob reunite in the afterlife and as spirits worked to help those that strayed off the good path.


Update: I enjoyed it more than the first time, I had forgotten pretty much everything 👵🏻. This time I was more invested and I got to grasp all the details linking the original story to this prequel/ sequel.

I Recommend it a lot.

[Nicci Hartland · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love The Christmas Carol, you will love this book. It tells the tale from the point of view of Jacob T. Marley.

It delves into his life, how he met Scrooge and how he made Scrooge the way he was. It's about redemption and teaching people forgiveness.

Definitely a great companion to the original classic, great to read aloud, read alone or hear from audiobooks.