High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge`s ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim.