Mrs. Scrooge: A Christmas Poem

by Carol Ann Duffy

A beautifully illustrated gift book featuring the warm, witty update of A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Britain's first female poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.

Genres: Poetry, Christmas, Fiction, Holiday, Adult, London, British Literature

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dame Carol Ann Duffy, DBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009.

She is the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly LGBT person to hold this position.

Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence, in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools.

Reviews

[Loretta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Strange twist to the classic, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I wasn't impressed.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read Carol Ann Duffy's Mrs Scrooge several times during different festive seasons, and still find elements to discover within it. It is at times amusing, and really quite lovely; there is something heartening about an eco-warrior choosing not to celebrate Christmas due to the undeniable materialism of the season, but then being visited by a Dickensian-esque ghost, who shows her what she is missing out on. The wordplay and rhyme scheme here are inventive, and both work so well. Mrs Scrooge is clever and inventive, and I cannot recommend it enough if you find yourself looking for a quirky gift, or just for something a little different to read over Christmas.

[Iris Dunkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Ann Duffy, Britains current Poet Laureate, continues to impress me. This story presents a new scrooge - scrooge's wife (a character reminiscent of Duffy's invented wives in her poetry collection World's Wife) with a green angle. It's definately a good read and I highly recomend it as an edition to anyone's Christmas reading list.

[Jenny Cooke (Bookish Shenanigans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[jolovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Never give up. Don't think one ordinary human life can make no difference - for it can!"


I loved the beginning. The scene is set so vividly; it's wintery and everyone is losing their mind over Christmas.

After my first read through I felt it ran out of steam a bit towards the end, but I found different meaning in it after reading it a second time.

Mrs Scrooge is living a noble, but lonely life and is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows the damage we've done to the environment and how changed our landscapes are. The Ghost of Christmas Present continues with this theme, but assures us there's still time to change our ways. And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows us the joy that can be found at Christmas, in family and community.

[shaneypie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute but the whole reasoning behind why she needed to be visited by the Christmas spirits was super confusing. I’m not really sure what the big issue is? I know her husband is dead but the beginning didn’t make her family prominent enough to become the entire solution.

[Juan Ramon Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new twist on a Scrooge classic. I was confused about the family but the illustrations were super cute 🥰

[Jeremy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ebenezer Scrooge has died, and his wife (while at Marley's, a supermarket) tries to raise awareness about animal cruelty and consumerism. Developers want her to move from her flat, where she had lived with her husband. She sees his face in the knocker. Cat's name is Catchit (not Cratchit). She is visited by ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. References to Shakespeare, Dickens, Oscar, and Virginia Woolf. Santa is the ghost of Christmas present, and he takes her to the North Pole to show her the melting Polar Ice Cap. Gay and straight folks come to her wake. Mrs. Fezziwig and Mrs. Scrooge cuddle?

[Fiction Addition Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scrooge, Bah Humbug. Only this is Mrs Scrooge... Who knew.
Mrs Scrooge is the modern tale, Living alone with her cat, Catchit.
After Mr Scrooge has passed away she recycles, buys secondhand, eats leftovers and thinks about the planet.
Lovely, very quirky take on Dickens Christmas Carol. Lots of the usual ghosts visiting but with a dash of difference.
Carol Ann Duffy was our last Poet Laureate appointed by the monarch of the UK and the tradition dates back to 1668 when John Dryden was the first Poet Laureate appointed by Charles II.
Simon Armitage succeeded Carol in May 2019

[John Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather bland.

Whimsical pictures.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was fun. I learned so much more that Charles Dickens seemed to forget to tell me. For one thing Scrooge ended up getting married! And Scrooge ends up finally dying, I probably could have figured that one out for myself if I thought about it long enough. He's Scrooge not Santa Claus. But Carol Ann Duffy wrote this little book with lovely illustrations in 2009 and filled in all I didn't know. Okay, this is what the little book is about, kind of anyway, here's the introduction:

With her husband, Ebenezer, now 'doornail dead', the coldest Christmas Eve on record finds Mrs. Scrooge outside the supermarket, protesting against consumerism and waste. Just as Ebenezer did, Mrs. Scrooge keeps to her frugal ways…but with the current state of the world, perhaps Mrs. Scrooge has the right idea.

That night, alone in her bed with Catchit the cat beside her, Mrs. Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As each in succession takes her by the hand and sweeps through the scenes of her life, Mrs. Scrooge learns not only what the 'Christmas Spirit' really means, but the nature of the real gifts we give and receive.

And this part made me smile:

The Thames flowed on as Mrs. Scrooge proceeded on her way
towards her rooms.
Nobody lived in the building now
but her, and all the other flats were boarded up.
Whatever the developers had offered Mrs. Scrooge to move
could never be enough. She liked it where it was,
lurking in the corner of a yard, as though the house
had run there young, playing hide-and-seek,
and had forgotten the way out. She remembered
her first Christmas there with Scrooge,
the single stripey sweet
he'd given her that year, and every year.
But Scrooge was dead, no doubt of that, so why,
her key turning the lock, did she see in the knocker
Scrooge's face? His face to the life, staring back at her
with living grey-green eyes and opening metal lips!
As Mrs Scrooge looked fixedly at this,
it turned into a knocker once again.

See where this is going? The book is 48 pages long, the one I have anyway, and I love the illustrations, but you can read the entire thing on the internet if you choose. It was fun.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know there was a Mrs. Scrooge? I didn't. This Mrs. Scrooge is a 21st century version. She is thrifty, but not because she is stingy. She cares about the environment. She avoids over consuming energy, relying on candle light and a small fire to light and heat her tiny home. She protests the mistreatment of turkeys by leafletting at a supermarket. She is a holdout against rampant development by refusing to sell her tiny flat (apartment) to developers. She is the last tenant left in her building. But the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future delight her rather than frighten her. Read this sweet little book to find out how, and you will also find some of the familiar characters from Dicken's A Christmas Carol.

Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow, and has won numerous awards. She was the first woman named Poet Laureate in Britain when she was given the title in 2009.

[David]

Though I can see and understand all the objections made by readers for whom this little book didn't work so well, I loved it. I love the attitude to creating something now out of something then, to being playful with even the most sacrosanct of classics. I probably wouldn't have even read it had I not simply gone to the library and pulled everything they had by Carol AnnDuffy off the shelf. Although I had read a handful of her poems often over the last 30 years, I think she is my "new discovery" for 2024.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the the fact that the background was never explained-- how and when she met Mr. Scrooge, why she so thrifty (other than wanting to preserve the environment!)-- I'm still giving it 4 stars. The writing and illustrations were lovely. I hope the message is that one can save the world while helping family?!
"Never give up. Don't think one ordinary human life can make no difference-- for it can!" (page 25).

[Alicia Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

2023: 3 stars. Odd but enjoyed it.

2024: 2.5 stars. I just didn't really enjoy it that much this year. I found it a bit boring! Perhaps I've read too many Duffy Christmas books all at once, but nevertheless, this one took a while for me to get through as I just didn't really want to read it. Lovely illustrations though.

[Brave · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is the past, it cannot come again. It is the gift your soul gives to your heart." | Went to the library, seeking something to attempt to get me into the Christmas spirit since I'm finding it rather difficult this year. This was nice, 3.5 stars. A lovely little quick read with nice themes.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy has mastered the craft of telling the stories of leading ladies in history and literature. This feminist take on Mrs. Scrooge mimics the rhythm of classic Christmas poetry with a contemporary spin and classic message. The pictures are a nice finishing touch for a work like this.

[Bayou des Cannes Cajun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful Christmas poem written by U. K. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Happily stumbled across this as the door of May begins to think of welcoming June. Delightful.

[Tim Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely up to date version of the great story reminding us of the value of relationships.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

An updated poetic version of A Christmas Carol. Especially lovely when read aloud. Duffy is a U.K. Poet Laureate.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delight, as I expected. An outstanding poet applies her characteristic intelligence to the famous story, but with many a twist - yet lots of deliberate echoes of the wording of the original.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really different. Enjoyed her penny pinching ways.

[Theron Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet little Christmas story

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story kinda picks up after Eb Scrooge leaves this earth and his widow, who has become like his former self has three spirits visit her. The characters are familiar, but it doesn’t quite fit with Dicken’s tale. Still a nice read and wonderful drawings!!

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A progressive widower is visited by three ghosts. I’m not sure why, since she hadn’t lived a life of greed and she’s a good hearted person trying to make a difference and is well loved. Kinda blasé

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

[Polly Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit preachy but hey it's Christmassy and damn cute

[jennsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful! illustrations were fun as well.