A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old penny-pinching man named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kinder man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, taking him on a journey where he discovers the true meaning of Christmas. The story was first published in 1843, authored by Charles Dickens and with illustrations by John Leech. The book's chapters are called staves as the stanzas of a song, a Christmas Carol. A real classic.