Charles Dickens (son of John and Elizabeth Dickens) was born on February the 7th , 1812 in Landport, Portsmouth. He died on June 9th, 1870. In his life, Charles Dickens wrote 15 great novels and several short stories. Charles grew up in a poor family. At the age of 12 (1824) his father, mother and siblings were sent to prison because of his fathers debt. Therefore, Charles was sent to work in a shoe-blacking factory for six shillings a week, to provide money for his parents. After the release of his family, Charles went to school for 3 years in London. When Charles was fifteen years old, he was hired as an office boy at an attorney's. Charles grew up to be a reporter, and of course a great novelist, marrying Maria Beadnell (1830) only to divorce again three years later (1833). One year later (1834), Charles adopted a little boy, whose father also was sent to prison. In 1835 Charles met and became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. They also divorced in the year of 1858. Afterwards, Charles was said to have a "sweetheart" named Ellen Ternan (whom he actually met before his divorce with Catherine, it is believed that he had an affair), who followed him the rest of his life. Roughly said, Charles spent the rest of his life performing readings (for money of course) and pursuing his career as a writer. On June the 9th, 1870 Charles died from a stroke. The stroke was presumably caused by Charles's hard working habits.
The novel A Christmas Carol is about an old grumpy man called Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer is a very greedy man, and he couldn't care less for others (or Christmas). At Christmas Eve, Ebenezer is visited by "the ghost of Christmas past", "the ghost of Christmas present" and "the ghost of Christmas yet to come". In other words, Ebenezer is taken on a trip to see the events that took place in the past, are taking place in the present and the events that will take place in the future. Ebenezer realises that if he doesn't stop being so mean and greedy, no one will ever feel sorry for his death, but remember him as a mean and greedy person instead.