You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I picked this up to read before giving Dicken’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ a reread and I’d certainly recommend it. In Miss Marley, we’re following Jacob and Clara Marley as they’re thrown into poverty and homelessness as children and then their route out. In her author’s note, Lafaye states she didn’t want to take anything from the original so our main focus here is the invented character of Clara and I really enjoyed that, she’s a great character and throughout you pine for good things to come her way. I don’t want to say more of the plot as it’s a short novella but I do feel like it was a well theorised route into ACC about how Jacob (or Jake to his sister) found his way into working with Ebenezer Scrooge whilst Clara remained pure of heart. I liked the setting and the way the story all came together, the characters were good and it had nice messages too. It’s by no means a favourite of mine but was a fun time and on the whole I liked it a lot.
Sadly, Vanessa Lafaye died whilst writing this so the final few chapters were written by her friend Rebecca Mascull and whilst she did a good job and I believe stuck to the original ideas, didn’t particularly love it. I found it a bit annoying but still it was good and overall it was a very decent read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Classism
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this! I was also curious about Jacob Marley and loved this idea the author had about the backstory and think she’s executed it beautifully 😊 the writing was beautiful and written in somewhat of “old English”.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've had this book for a few years now, I believe since it came out but I've never had the chance to read it before this Christmas, and I'm so glad I did as it was a nice experience. The story was quite simplistic, and although the beginning and middle are good, the ending was quite disappointing to me but of course it has to be this way to lead into A Christmas Carol! But what blew me away however was that I found out that the book had been written by two women, as Vanessa Lafaye sadly passed away before it could be completed. Either she and Rebecca Mascull have very similar writing styles, or Mascull made a particular intention to homage and honour her friend's work. Either way it was lovely to read!
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was marketed as “A Seasonal Tale of Kindness and Goodwill” which is wholly inaccurate to what transpires in the book. Don’t read it if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you like stomach turning descriptions of Victorian London you’ll love it.
dark
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes