I received an Advance Reader’s Edition of this book from the publisher, and I appreciated being able to read it in advance of its publication later this year. Merry is a Christmas story, and the word “merry” here is not just synonymous with Christmas (as in the greeting, “Merry Christmas”) but is also the first name of the protagonist. Merry Bingham loves Christmas passionately, a love which is in no small part fueled by a signed early edition of the book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which has been in her family for five generations. Family legend has it that it came to her ancestor, a 10-year-old girl, who actually sought Charles Dickens out in the same train to New York City she happened to be traveling on and persuaded him to give her a signed copy of his book. It now belongs to Merry, and it is one of her most cherished possessions.

Now in her mid-fifties, Merry decides, in the spirit of the upcoming Christmas season, that it is time to pass on the book to the next generation. But to her dismay, neither of her three children – who are all adults now — want it. The profound hurt and sadness she feels by this rejection of a beloved family heirloom is compounded by a serious health crisis – a routine physical exam that she did for an injury resulting from a fall (while hanging up Christmas decorations!) turned out to indicate that she might have cancer. This double whammy throws her into a tailspin, leading her to impulsively sell her cherished copy of A Christmas Carol – which is very valuable – and use the money to take her entire family to London for a holiday to spend the week of Christmas in Dickens’ own country.

Needless to say, the holiday doesn’t turn out quite as she had planned — the fancy Airbnb she had rented turned out to be not so fancy after all, her children can’t stop bickering with each other despite being fully -grown adults, the possible prognosis of cancer continues to haunt her, and most of the things she had planned on seeing and doing with her family during the trip never happen. Also, in the spirit of the magical season of Christmas, she keeps seeing and talking with the ghost of Charles Dickens throughout her stay in London, including in the Apple Store, which her family visits to fix a broken phone that got accidentally dropped in a bowl of soup!

Of course, it all works out — more or less — at the end, which is what you would expect in a book centered on Christmas. Her treasured book – the heirloom edition of A Christmas Carol – is returned to her, her children come to a reconciliation of sorts with each other, her cancer diagnosis is confirmed but it is an early stage and can be treated, she is back on good terms with her husband, and on their last day in London, they are finally able to “do Christmas” the way she had planned, surrounded by close friends and family who all happen to converge on their vacation rental to celebrate the season.

I found Merry an endearing book that poignantly captures the angst of a middle-aged woman whose life is suddenly upended by the possibility of a fatal diagnosis and her last-ditch effort at bringing her family together to celebrate the holiday that means the most to her. There are plenty of hilarious moments as well, particularly in how the adult children revert to juvenile behavior when they come together, a scenario that is all too believable. While the “ghost of Charles Dickens” was too much of a stretch for me, I can see how it might appeal to diehard fans of Christmas and Charles Dickens, and especially of his book, A Christmas Carol.

Merry
Author: Susan Breen
Publisher: Alcove Press
Publication Date: September 2025

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Contributor: Lachmi Khemlani is a fan of the written word.