After taking readers through the psyches of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, local author Leonard Szymczak is concluding his trilogy retelling the holiday classic A Christmas Carol as he dives into Jacob Marley’s story.
The series titled “Untold Miracle of Charles Dickens’ Classic” delves into the inner-workings of characters from the beloved A Christmas Carol as Szymczak draws on his experience as a psychotherapist.
“One of my favorite books was A Christmas Carol and whenever I would, particularly at Christmas time, watch the movies or read the book, I always wondered what would happen if these angelic forces, these spirits visited these other characters,” said Szymczak, a former Dana Point resident who recently moved to Laguna Niguel.
Szymczak chose to center his first book of the series on Cratchit after wondering, “What would make a man work for a miserly guy like Scrooge for 20 years?”
“What would be in his psychological background that would make him be prepared to put up with such horrible treatment,” Szymczak asked. “I thought, ‘Well, what if the spirits visited Bob Cratchit and started him on his journey … to make a change?”
At the end of A Christmas Carol, Szymczak noted that Scrooge is able to change, but other characters like Cratchit do not undergo the same growth. So Szymczak decided to take these peripheral characters on their own journeys.
For Tiny Tim, Szymczak imagined that the young boy might have been bullied, would have seen his father get mistreated and that he might have been losing hope.
“He probably would have his own demons he had to work through,” Szymczak said. “So we had three children’s spirits visiting Tiny Tim so he can go through his character arc.”
Though Szymczak considered delving into the mind of Scrooge’s sister Fan or his fiancé, Belle, the author centers the third book on Bob Marley, who appears to Scrooge as a phantom in A Christmas Carol.
“He comes to visit Scrooge … he’s in chains and rattles, he scares Scrooge because he’s got to encourage Scrooge to go on his transformation,” Szymczak said.
In his final book of the series, Szymczak imagines that Scrooge’s partner, Marley, is responsible for the miser’s downfall.
“I kind of figured, what kind of character was Jacob? He would have been just as bad as Scrooge, so I made him worse than Scrooge,” Szymczak said. “Jacob Marley had to be even worse than Scrooge, because he’s the one who seduced Scrooge to go onto this miserly path, this greedy path of seeking wealth at the expense of poor people and other people.”
Though Marley dies at the very beginning of the book, Szymczak said three spirits still paid the man a visit and set him on a path to redemption.
Ultimately, the three stories focus on relationships.
“They’re uplifting stories,” Szymczak said. “That’s the beautiful thing about A Christmas Carol, or It’s a Wonderful Life, people want to feel uplifted during the holiday season, and I wanted stories that uplift people, but stories that take people through an arc of a story.”
After finally completing the series, Szymczak said “it feels like time well-spent.”
“It’s like I’ve been on The Odyssey with these three characters,” Szymczak said.
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol is Szymczak’s eighth book. His ninth book, a fantasy novel, is currently in the editing process and may be published in the next year.
“Relationships are the glue that keeps us as a human species bonded together, and so, really, the book is all about relationships and the spirits who come visit them have a relationship with the main character,” Szymczak said.
“In today’s polarized climate, I think we need more connection and unity and to see how we’re all really human beings and stories are connecting forces,” Szymczak continued. “I want to help people feel more connected during the holiday season, because really love is the way to go in building connections.”
Szymczak drew on his own background and over 40 years of experience as a psychotherapist to create each character’s backstories.
“I’ve heard so many stories; I’ve heard thousands and thousands of stories in my life and professional life, and I really feel blessed because people tell me their stories,” Szymczak said. “My job as a therapist is to help them restore their lives; they’re the main characters in their stories, and so I have so much material plus my own personal life.”
Growing up, Szymczak’s father left the family when he was young, and his mother raised four children while working at a factory, he said.
“Charles Dickens, a lot of his books are based upon his own life, because his father was put into prison, and Dickens himself had to work in one of these workhouses as well, so that’s why some of his stories reflect his own personal life,” Szymczak said.
“Each of these characters, in many ways, are my therapy,” Szymczak continued. “I get to find parts of myself that I need to work out and maybe emotions that need to be recharged and reworked out. and I get to do it in story format.”
Each of the books offers its own message to readers, Szymczak said. The final book seeks to show how one’s past influences the choices one makes in the present.
The books are intended for a wide audience, Szymczak said, though he added that these are great books for parents to read to their children.
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