Reviews

Historical Novel Review — November 2019
“Jacob Marley is not dead, to begin with. He’s very much alive, and he’s the force of nature that shapes the life and fortunes of a young Ebenezer Scrooge in Jon Clinch’s boldly imagined novel, Marley (Atria, 2019). The book gives us what Dickens did not: a rich, layered backstory for one of the most notorious partnerships in all of literature – Scrooge and Marley. We know how their story ends, revisit it, some of us, once a year, to reconnect with what matters and expunge our own inner-Scrooge, but we know almost nothing of its beginnings, what sets in motion the second most treasured tale of redemption and Christmas, well, since the original… Far from a betrayal, the novel is a brilliant sleight of hand…“

Shelfawareness – October 18, 2019
“Readers will be enchanted by the Dickensian atmosphere and style, whether it be a foreboding description of a sordid corner of London or understanding a character in a moment thanks to an aptly chosen name. This novel’s humor, warmth and charm demonstrate Clinch’s right to build on Dickens’s legacy.”

People Magazine – October 14, 2019 – “The Best New Books”
What was Scrooge’s late business partner like before he was a ghost?  In this lively imagined prequel to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley is already adept at extortion and spotting weakness when he and Scrooge meet as boys.  Their business thrives thanks to unsavory deals, until Scrooge insists they get out of the slave trade and Marley’s deceit comes to light.  Eternity in chains, here he comes!

A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Pick — Sunday Oct 13, 2019
“Clinch has done something remarkable in “Marley,” not merely offering a parergon to Dickens’s little masterpiece, imagining the soil out of which the action of “A Christmas Carol” grows, but creating a free-standing dystopian universe, a hideous vision of nascent capitalism in which nothing is real and every transaction is a fraud issuing from the brain of a master forger, who by the end has reduced even his own life, quite literally, to a trompe l’oeil. Clinch’s Marley is one of the great farouche characters, at once frightening and dangerously attractive. His literary antecedents are to be found in the pages of Bram Stoker, with perhaps a nod toward Peter Ackroyd, but ultimately the book is all his own. Clinch saves his most original touch for the very end, where Marley finds a kind of ecstatic resolution, laying the ground for the final painfully hard-won redemption in “A Christmas Carol.” We can but hope that this masterly Gothic prequel will banish forever the Currier and Ives version of Dickens’s dark fable.”  — Simon Callow

Seattle Times, 10 Books to Watch for Fall 2019
September 19, 2019
“…Now Marley gets a whole novel of his own, from a skilled author who’s entered the backstory-of-literary-characters realm previously: His debut, 2007’s “Finn,” told the backstory of Huckleberry Finn’s father.
And it’s a good one; told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Marley and a younger, less bitter Scrooge and ranging from 1787 (when the two meet at the appropriately named Professor Drabb’s Academy for Boys, filled with boys who “looked like old men long denied nourishment”) to Marley’s deathbed in 1836. Clinch has fun with Dickensian names, but mostly this is a tragic tale of a young man slowly hardening into stone, and of a familiar character’s outline being filled in with new, darker colors.”

Booklist – September 1, 2019
“In his highly acclaimed Finn (2007), Clinch crafted a prequel to a literary classic…..his latest follows in grand form by developing backstories for Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol… Clinch gives us a full-fledged late Georgian London, with its shadowy lanes and increasing commercial growth, and female characters convincing developed… This smoothly written insightful tale should prompt readers to reread its inspiration with fresh eyes.”

Publishers Weekly – August 18, 2019
“[A] gripping tale… If A Christmas Carol tugs at the heartstrings, Clinch’s novel deepens the story to eviscerate the whole heart.”

Kirkus review – Starred review – July 15, 2019
“The tight-fisted Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghost of Jacob Marley come vividly to life in an assured reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by novelist Clinch (Belzoni Dreams of Egypt, 2014, etc.), who brilliantly captures the wit and irony of Dickens’ prose as he unfurls a tale of greed, cruelty, and passion… An adroit, sharply drawn portrayal of Dickens’ indelible characters.”