I have seen a LOT of movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Probably most, if not all, of them. And most of them are made by people who don’t really understand the story, and so, in my opinion, emphasize the wrong bits of it, not to mention leaving out all of the humor.

I’ve also read a lot of Christmas Carol sequels, and most of them are just trying to retell the same story, and don’t add much.

I just got done reading ‘A Christmas Coda’, by Will Todd. It is set one year on from A Christmas Carol, and tells you what happened next.

It was absolutely beautiful.

Not only does Mr. Todd get Dickens’ voice, and tell the story very well, but he grasps what Scrooge must necessarily have done next, having received such a great gift. He must pass that gift on to others. But – and I won’t give away where the story ends up – he grasps exactly how he would inevitably give that gift.

Will emailed me a few weeks ago, asking me to read the book. He did so because he encountered my Christmas Carol Glossary, which I wrote for friends who attend my Christmas Carol reading, and found it of benefit. When I was done reading the book, I emailed him the following:

Thank you for this beautiful book. I’ll write a more detailed review once I’ve stopped crying. Thank you.

So, there it is. And I really can’t say more, or it will give it away. Go read it. It’s a quick read, and it is a beautiful continuation – although, not the end!  – of what Dickens began.