Eben Kruge, Adams - B

                                               This novella is an imagining of how Charles Dickens was inspired to write 'A Christmas Carol'.  Dickens and his wife took a 5-month-long trip to America in 1842. Near the end of his trip, he stopped off at the West Point Hotel. Here, he dined with the manager who mentioned a local who had recently been transformed for the better. He decides to investigate and meets Eben Kruge, Esq.  The previous Christmas eve, Kruge had buried his wicked uncle and business partner. He tells Dickens of a midnight visit from the ghost of his uncle, a visitation from his once-betrothed, Abigail, and his renunciation of his parsimonious, wicked ways. He states that he had been "the illegitimate offspring of his uncle's avarice." In the closing chapters, he spreads his generosity far and wide. A pleased Dickens renews his trip and two years later, publishes his perhaps most famous and best loved work.