The Last of the Spirits
Victorian London, Christmas. Winter has the city in its icy grip. Thirteen-year-old Sam and his ten-year-old sister, Liz, are feral beggar children on the edge of starvation. When the miser Scrooge refuses to give them money, Sam, in a rage, vows to kill him. That night, as the two children huddle for warmth in a deserted graveyard, Sam sees a ghostly figure, laden with chains, appearing from the grave next to him. It is Jacob Marley, once Scrooge’s business partner, desperate to deliver a message to Scrooge and to Sam himself. Sam finds himself caught up with the three Spirits of Christmas, just as Scrooge is, but with his own lessons to learn if he is to avoid a grisly end which will also bring about Liz’s degradation and ruin.
The Last of the Spirits is Chris Priestley’s imaginative and spine-chilling re-interpretation which weaves the children’s parallel story through Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Priestley doesn’t pull his punches about poverty in 19th-century London, and we feel the bone-chilling cold, the children’s near-starvation and their desperation; it’s all too likely that they won’t survive the night unless they get help. We also recognize that Sam’s rage against a cruel world might not allow him to accept help, even if it’s offered.
When I liked about this book is that, not only is it a gripping tale in its own right, but it also forces the reader to think. Sam and Liz are Dickens’ Ignorance and Want made manifest, but, they are more than just metaphorical figures, they are also real characters. Marley and Scrooge’s life choices have impacted on others’ lives and caused untold misery, and the same goes for Sam – if he is not redeemed.
Any child who has read A Christmas Carol should enjoy this book. Highly recommended.
