A Christmas Carol has become as much a part of Christmas as trees, stockings and mistletoe. Ireland's new Children's Laureate P.J. Lynch breathes new life into Dickens's classic ghostly tale for this magnificent paperback edition. Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean old skinflint, and our story opens on a Christmas Eve as cold as his heart. In the dead of night, Scrooge is visited by the tormented ghost of his old friend Jacob Marley. Having led a selfish, miserly life, Marley can find no peace in death: his spirit has wandered the earth for seven years. To avoid the same fate, Scrooge sets off on a hair-raising journey through his past, present and future. Will he see the error of his ways before it's too late? First published in 1843, P.J. Lynch's detailed and atmospheric artwork for this lavish, unabridged edition conjures up Dickensian London and its inhabitants with breathtaking immediacy.