A Christmas Carol

Available now from Abbeville Press!

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"In 2022, I decided to illustrate a brand new edition of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the classic tale we know and love, but with a twist... I illustrated it as a true ghost story, honoring the Victorian tradition of telling spirited "midwinter's tales" during the holiday season.

 

The Victorians knew that the end of the year is a precipice, a time of change and transition. We experience fear of the unknown and yearning for what is lost, yet we are also given the opportunity to reflect on what we might gain and hope for what is to come. In a way, the season is a microcosm for our current uneasy times.

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In Victorian Spiritualism and spiritual art, uncanny spaces indicate that reality as we know it can and does change without warning. Symbols of death and the afterlife speak to our transience here on earth. Stylized natural landscapes  parallel the inner journey of the soul.

 

A CHRISTMAS CAROL is Scrooge's dark night of the soul, but his character represents all of us. May we remember the ghosts' lessons and be kind to each other this holiday season... and all throughout the year."

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—John A. Rice