It's Christmas Eve and bad-tempered miser Ebeneezer Scrooge is in his counting-house, refusing offers to join in the festive merriment and instead forcing his long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchit, to work in freezing conditions.

A visitation from the chain-bound ghost of his dead colleague, Jacob Marley, warns him that he will soon be visited by three spirits.

The events of the night are set to show Scrooge who he really is: but will this be enough to move his stubborn soul?This Essential Student Texts edition of Dickens's classic tale comes with accessible and informative notes.