“Marley was dead: to begin with.”

An iconic first line to a story that has enchanted readers for generations. A Christmas Carol is a book I’ve read time and time again — a story I grew up loving. And each time I return to it, it seems to strike something new.

The Christmas story in the Bible is another I grew up knowing and loving. Though I’ve come to describe myself as more spiritual than religious, a story that formed part of my foundation will always be a source of joy and hope and love.

So when the chance came to share my thoughts on A Christmas Carol Devotional, I leapt. Revisiting two beloved tales at once, letting them unfold day by day and lesson by lesson, sounded like a gift for any reader who loves Christmas.

Rachel Dodge walks readers through Scrooge’s journey day by day, pairing each well-known plot point — the visit from Marley’s ghost, the three spirits, Scrooge’s transformation — with the story of Christ’s birth. It’s a thoughtful structure, and the parallels she draws between the two stories do exactly what I hoped they would: they deepen a reader’s relationship with both. Dickens’s tale of redemption sits naturally alongside the story of a birth that changed everything, and reading them side by side, day by day, gave me a new appreciation for how much the two stories are already speaking to each other.

Maybe my favorite part of the book, though, has nothing to do with Scrooge or scripture directly. Dodge includes a list of Victorian Christmas traditions that remain popular today — roasting chestnuts, Christmas fairs and markets, visiting loved ones — and suggests using them as Advent activities. It’s such a simple idea, but a lovely one: using these small, centuries-old traditions as a way to connect with friends and family through the season, rather than just reading about them.

A Christmas Carol Devotional is the perfect gift for anyone who waits all year for Christmas and delights in the spirit of the season. It’s a book made for slow, daily reading — one that rewards readers who already love these stories with new ways of seeing them, and offers a few new traditions to try along the way.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.