I got this softcover from local independent bookstore Balin Books. It's a graphic-novel reimagining of Dickens' story, with several characters gender-flipped - including Scrooge, now Elizabeth Scrooge (who's much younger than the original character).

For the most part this adaptation follows the book closely, but there are a few key changes - mainly in Scrooge's attitudes toward the lessons she's supposed to learn from the spirits, but also in the casting of a woman's role in Victorian England. Elizabeth is lonely at school as a child, yes, but when her father brings her home he insists she won't be going to school again - or leaving the house at all, as she's to learn a woman's place now. The scenes at Fezziwig's reveal that while it's her beloved brother who's the actual apprentice, she's become a favorite there due to her excellent grasp of numbers and business. (Her brother helped her out there, as her father would never have permitted this otherwise.)

Her business partnership with Marley leads to the familiar scenes of her valuing profit over everything else, leaving personal relationships by the wayside. She's not entirely without a heart - she's sympathetic about the potential fate of Tiny Tim, for example - but is very, very harsh about the poor and "unworthy", going beyond the "prisons and workhouses" to stating they shouldn't reproduce at all if they can't feed their children.

While the things she sees during her ghost-led trips do enlighten her to many things, the lessons she takes from them are... rather different. I admit that when she railed against the ghosts and the God who sent them because all their lessons about holiday cheer and family love haven't stopped them from saving little Tim, I thought she had a point. And while her post-visitation choices remained keenly logical, she managed to parlay them into a better life for others, while never giving in as to her own original views. [There's a scene where she has a talk with Mrs. Cratchitt about the limited options available to women in their world, acknowledging that they've chosen different paths - but offering an alliance.]

The author included some rather funny musings by the spirits themselves as to whether their lessons achieved their goal or not - and leaves the answer open. Oh, and there is the classic "God bless us, every one" closing, but when you turn the page there's a bit of a stinger!

Interesting take on the story; I rather liked it, though I do still love the much more sentimental and less logical original.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

Released for:

** 2024 Decemberish challenge **

** 2024 What's in a Name challenge. **