A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on December 19, 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. A Christmas Carol remains popular - having never been out of print - and has been adapted many times to film, stage, opera, and other media. "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, image captioned: "Marley's Ghost" illustrated by John Leech, 1843.