Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A Christmas Carol (Simon & Schuster Edition)

  • By: Charles Dickens
  • Narrated by: Patrick Stewart
  • Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (331 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Christmas Carol (Simon & Schuster Edition) cover art

A Christmas Carol (Simon & Schuster Edition)

By: Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Patrick Stewart
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens cover art
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings cover art
A Christmas Carol and The Night Before Christmas cover art
Dombey and Son cover art
David Copperfield (Dramatised) cover art
Ghost Stories cover art
The Chimes cover art
An Inspector Calls (Classic Radio Theatre) cover art
Great Expectations cover art
A Tale of Two Cities cover art
Dombey and Son cover art
A Christmas Carol cover art
Christmas Stories cover art
The Old Curiosity Shop cover art
Macbeth cover art

Summary

Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and Ebenezer Scrooge come to marvelous life in Patrick Stewart's critically-acclaimed solo interpretation of A Christmas Carol. The star of X-Men and The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart has performed his one-man stage production of this holiday classic to sell-out audiences. Now, in this Grammy-nominated studio recording of the dazzling achievement that has thrilled audiences in New York and Los Angeles, Stewart invites listeners to rediscover the timeless story at its source: Dickens' own words, presented in a soaring, virtuoso solo performance in which Stewart plays all parts.
Click here to see all the titles in our Charles Dickens collection.
©1991 Camm Lane, Inc (P)2006 Simon and Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Reciting the litany of Scrooge's scrooginess, Stewart relishes the emotional gamut of meanness....Humbug seldom sounds so good." ( Newsweek)
"Not only is Patrick Stewart wonderful, but this is surely one of the best performances of A Christmas Carol ever recorded....By sheer energy and dramatic skill, Stewart invests this story with not merely life, but freshness, excitement, and wonder." ( The Washington Post)
"A low tech audio Christmas card: no sound effects, no gimmicks, just one of the the great voices of the contemporary classical stage creating as vivid a cast of characters as Dickens imagines. The Royal Shakespeare Company veteran...doesn't so much read the story as inhabit it with infectious delight." ( Entertainment Weekly)

What listeners say about A Christmas Carol (Simon & Schuster Edition)

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    292
  • 4 Stars
    26
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    264
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    255
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Abridgement of such a short book?

Of course this is excellent. Classic story, the best reading of it I've ever heard, but abridging it ought to be criminalised, the penalty should be to read out War and Peace in its entirety.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bah! Humbug! But then I love humbugs...

Any additional comments?

I had the great privilege some years ago of seeing Patrick Stewart’s one-man show of A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic theatre in London – one of the theatrical highlights of my life. At the time I was aware of him as Jean-Luc Picard of the Star Ship Enterprise and knew that he’d been a ‘proper’ Shakespearian actor before that. But seeing him perform Dickens’ wonderful story live was a revelation. This audio version is based on that performance.

A Christmas Carol must surely rate as the best ghost story of all time, and be on the shortlist at least for best short story. Dickens’ exuberant and larger-than-life style is perfectly suited to a tale of this nature, and it in turn is perfectly suited to the message of Christmas. We see Scrooge first as a mean and miserly old man, measuring out his clerk’s coal and objecting to losing a day’s work for Christmas. Our introduction to the ghost of Marley is truly scary – the clanking chains, the face on the door-knocker, the chimes of the clock; and who can forget the gaping jaw as Marley removes the kerchief tied around his head? The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come lead us through a turmoil of emotions as we see the lonely little boy, the young man who lost his one love, the gradual sinking into loneliness and miserliness, and the horror of what might be to come. But Dickens does redemption like no-one else, and he leads us away from the despair of Ignorance and Want towards a joyous and uplifting ending, where Scrooge gains his salvation through learning that to give to those less fortunate than himself brings him the pleasure and happiness he had forgotten could exist.

Stewart’s performance is superb. There’s no music, no sound-effects – he performs the whole thing completely with his voice, creating different personas for each character, each fully realised and totally individual. It is his voice that gives us the bells, the chimes of the clock – it’s through his voice that we hear the fear, the horror, the hope and finally the wondrous joy. When Scrooge learns to laugh at the end, I defy anyone not to laugh with him. When he sings a Christmas carol for the first time in years we hear his voice go through the stages from creaky and rusty to a full-scale boisterous bellow. And when he gives us Dickens’ last sugary-sweet line, he makes it so tender that even the cliché becomes truly moving.

This is an abridged version, running at just under two hours, but it’s so skilfully done I’m never really aware of what’s missing. It’s a once a year must-listen for me and I love it just as much each time. A masterly performance of a masterpiece, and guaranteed to boost your festive stock of goodwill to all men.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An abosolute must have!

Brilliant, simply brilliant, a fantastic story, brought to new life by a fantastic performance by Patrick Stewart. Stewart doesn't just read the book, he acts it out vocally, in a true style of one of the greatest actors of our age. Definately the highest priority for this christmas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My All time favourit Christmas Story

My All time favourit Christmas Story. Made even better by my all time favourit actor/narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant!

A wonderful reading if the classic story. Stewart encapsulates each character perfectly in his performance. a must listen for the Christmas holidays.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing rendition

Absolutely loved it. Patrick Stewart is delightful, only wish it were longer. Will listen to again and again. The different voices and richness of the reading were excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sir Patrick Stewart's delights.

A delight to listen to and quite funny to listen to sir Patrick's impressions of the characters. A good fun version to listen to narrated well by a absolute legend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Patrick Stewart is just amazing!

thoroughly enjoyed by myself and am looking forward to letting the kids listen in this time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The best of countless audio adaptations.

Patrick Stewart's Scrooge is gleefully awful, but when he grows a heart he's so touchingly vulnerable.

Most audiobooks are a compromise, this one is not.
it's perfect.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Best Book In My Collection!

Patrick Stewart is absolutely phenomenal is this tale of joy and sorrow. It is brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful