A Christmas Carol

Exam board: AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas, WJEC
Level & Subject: GCSE English Literature
Next exam: June 2026
This edition of A Christmas Carol is perfect for GCSE-level students: it comes complete with the novel, plus an introduction providing context, and a glossary explaining key terms.
'If I could work my will,' said Scrooge, indignantly, 'every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.'
Miser and misanthropist Ebenezer Scrooge hates the festive season. Can the visitations of his dead business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and yet to come shake him from his habits, to show him the true value of Christmas?
Dickens's 1843 story was written in response to the plight of the poor, the hungry, the exploited and the uneducated in Victorian society, suggesting that the true test of a society is the way it treats its children.

Richard Vardy is an experienced Head of English at Reigate College in Surrey. He is a Senior Assessor for A Level English Language and Literature and he has written a number of books for students and teachers, including textbooks, study guides and workbooks for both GCSE and A Level.